the iPad Wifi Model has GPS

[sananda]

How exactly does one report an incorrect location to Apple?

I was, of course, referring to the system in general not any one location report.

 

[eq2675]

Would someone with the WiFi only iPad download the app

Basic GPS

and let us know if it works?

 

[mjglopez]

Probably no GPS but something else.

I made a simple test.

1. I downloaded OffMaps from the App store
2. I fired it up, and it showed my location. No surprise, I have WiFi
3. I went out and walked, 100 meters.
4. Checked for any WiFi signals, there is none. But my WiFi is still on.
5. I opened OffMaps again and it showed me on my new location.

GPS? Maybe not. OffMaps did complain when I switched off WiFi.

My hunch is that it uses WiFi to recalibrate and uses the accelerometer and the compass to track my movements and update my location.

I'll make another test, this time in a car, when I take my kids to school on Monday.

- Mike

 

[cmaier]

I made a simple test.

1. I downloaded OffMaps from the App store
2. I fired it up, and it showed my location. No surprise, I have WiFi
3. I went out and walked, 100 meters.
4. Checked for any WiFi signals, there is none. But my WiFi is still on.
5. I opened OffMaps again and it showed me on my new location.

GPS? Maybe not. OffMaps did complain when I switched off WiFi.

My hunch is that it uses WiFi to recalibrate and uses the accelerometer and the compass to track my movements and update my location.

I'll make another test, this time in a car, when I take my kids to school on Monday.

- Mike

It cant use the accelerometer and compass to track movement in that way. It is seeing wifi signals even if they aren't strong enough to support a data connection. It only needs to see the id of the access point - it doesn't need to connect.

 

[AZREOSpecialist]

Oooh. That's even more reason for me to get WiFi only iPad. I live in the city, never too far from a hotspot.

And you never leave "the city" and won't need GPS services at that time?

 

[kdarling]

Can someone explain how wifi based gps can do this? When we moved into our new house one of the first things we did was go to the cable company and have our Internet turned on. 10 minutes later we were at home and I setup up my Airport Extreme and the modem. As soon as it was setup my wifi only iPad could locate me within 1-2 meters inside my house.

It's not likely that it will report a new hotspot using other hotspots, since that would be too vague, although I suppose it could. Normally only GPS-located hotspots are used.

More likely, it was either using other WiFi hotspots (not your new one) to locate you, or someone nearby had used an iPhone to check location. If so, the iPhone will report the new hotspot using its GPS and Apple will put it in its database. That happens a lot with new routers, and always surprises people.

AGPS is superior to GPS in that it uses information from a network to mitigate signal issues often experienced in urban areas.

It's true that some A-GPS devices have server help in calculations. However, almost always those are CDMA dumbphones, communicating back and forth over a carrier control channel with carrier A-GPS servers.

The iPhone and iPad do not do that. Their version of A-GPS is simply the ability to instantly download current satellite status and orbits from the internet, instead of waiting ten minutes to download it from a satellite. This makes startup much faster.

PS. Someone mentioned that for hotspot locating, there was no need for a connection. That is true as long as the device has already cached those local hotspots from a previous nearby location request. If you flew across country, the device would almost certainly have to download more hotspot info, and that would require a connection just to do that.