GPS Issues

I just re-activated my bold. I was using my storm 1 for the last two weeks just playing around with it. I noticed now that my bold is back up and running i am having trouble with google maps or bb maps finding my location. Google maps just gives me cell site location and bb maps says searching for satellites. My gps is set to location on and I tested this outside in a clear view of the sky in the same location that I had no problem getting a location on my storm. Only occasionally will google maps or bb maps find my location. If I exit the apps and then open them immediately again they can't find my location again. I did numerous battery pulls, did *228 and made sure the permissions for both apps are set to allow. Am I missing something? Is there anything I can do short or re-installing the os? Is the gps in my device just malfunctioning? I can't believe how much stronger the gps is in the original storm. It always picked up my location faster than my bold, but I never had this much trouble with the bold's gps.

You can test the gps. Go into an open field or similar. Use Options, Status. At that screen type (you will not see it) "test" (no quotes). There are a variety of tests including the gps.

Thanks! I will give it a try as soon as I get get out of the office for some fresh air. I didn't know about that test feature. You learn something new with each post.

I'm having the exact same problem. Used to be BOOM 14 satellites found. Now its minutes to find a lock and only 6 to 8 satellites. Sometimes no lock at all.
Called VZW support about it. She had me reregister the device, turn the radio off and on, and reboot. Didn't help much. Of course she wanted to make sure I was in a good coverage are for VZW, which had little to do with GPS. Finally she said it was a problem with 3rd party software (I was using bbmaps) and siad that was all she could do.

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Originally Posted by F2

You can test the gps. Go into an open field or similar. Use Options, Status. At that screen type (you will not see it) "test" (no quotes). There are a variety of tests including the gps.

I went to this menu and it says to test the gps go outside and select the start fixing menu item to start fixing to satellites. I do not see any menu item for start fixing. What am I missing?

I have been having this issue off and on for about a week. I called verizon and was told to delete and reinstall the program. I did this and it still is happening. I called verizon yesterday on the way to a destination that I needed VZ navigator for. After 45 minutes on the phone, they told me that they had elevated it to the next level due to uninstalling and reinstalling it again while on the phone with them it still didn't get it to work. They said that it was not showing up correctly in their system even after they put it into the system on their end. I still have not heard from them. I have Endomondo installed, but I have been running it for 3 weeks and this has been only happening for the last week.

I am going to try the "test" and see if anything happens. If I hear back from VZ, I will update.

Originally Posted by Stides

I went to this menu and it says to test the gps go outside and select the start fixing menu item to start fixing to satellites. I do not see any menu item for start fixing. What am I missing?

You are missing the fact that the BB button does not bring up the menu (for who knows what reason) - press the Trackpad (and I did not remember that until I just tried and could not "start fix!").

(sorry was out hiking...)

Originally Posted by F2

You are missing the fact that the BB button does not bring up the menu (for who knows what reason) - press the Trackpad (and I did not remember that until I just tried and could not "start fix!").

(sorry was out hiking...)

Thanks. I should have realized that anyway.

OK, so here is what I did so far. I wiped the device clean (to a 507 error) and then reloaded the latest verizon wireless os (5.0.0.732). I ran the gps "test" as described in this thread. I ran it in my house and it fixed properly returning my latitude and longitude immediately (it reported a fix in 396 milliseconds). However, I noticed that bb maps and google maps still took a long time to fix. Once they got a fix they were locked on there, but it took several minutes. This happened whether I was inside or outside of my house. I also slowly added programs that use gps (poynt and flixster) one by one and this did not have any impact on the gps fixing issue. I haven't put on endomondo yet. It was still very frustrating because it just took way too long to get a fix. Sometimes it was quicker than others, but even 2 minutes is too long imo when you are out somewhere and need to know where you are or need directions.

I then went through the permissions for vlingo and denied the specific permission for location. I installed this and use it frequently without even thinking it would have any impact on my gps. Yes, vlingo has a permission to ultilize your gps (I have no idea why). I rebooted the phone and now I am getting a fix must faster. Within 20 seconds, even inside my home. It may have worked! I can't take credit for this idea. I found it on this thread:

http://forums.crackberry.com/f145/gp...-maybe-521633/

I never would have thought of this myself, but once again the collective brain trust that is crackberry.com comes through with a good idea. I figured I would report it here. Strangely, I used vlingo on my storm 1 and allowing this permission did not interfere with my gps. Now vlingo is not working on my bold 9650 because I disabled this location permission so it's one or the other right now. I sent an email to vlingo support about this issue. If you don't have vlingo perhaps it is some other app that is interfering with your gps. The process the poster used in the thread above (denying location permissions one by one) may be a worth while way to troubleshoot. That is, of course, if your gps test comes back with a fix so you know it probably isn't a hardware issue.

Thanks for sharing and/or re-sharing what you've learned as it could help others.

(as an aside, generally I can get a gps fix in my upstairs but when I ran the test the other day - no dice! I did not explore why not.)

Am new to forum and BB phone. Have Verizon. Is only GPS capability thru them... for "just another 10 bucks a month"!? Went to this site to buy a keychain GPS and the Bold 9650 does not support it... yet another Verizon-is-all-powerful issue? Like my old Palm PDA for which all accessories were proprietary!!

Carl D

The 9650 GPS is open and available for any 3rd party app. You can use Garmin Mobile, life-in-pocket, poynt, gpslogger, blackstar, googlemaps and others as you wish. You do not need Verizon's Navigator. (older devices such as my old 8830, were locked by verizon)

F2,

thanks for the info... do you, or anyone on this blog, suggest a particular device? I like the size of the Freedom Keychain 2000 external device... the Blackberry site lists it at $99, and says it is compatible with the 9650 phone, and yet it is listed on the Crackberry site at $75 and indicates it is NOT compatible with this phone.

I just don't want to buy an external device and then find out that Verizon has blocked all GPS access to my 9650 unless I use there sawbuck-a-month VZ Navigator... they have too much of my $$$$ as it is! Use is not so much in an urban environment, as I know that is a weakness of a lot of GPS devices. Mainly outdoors with my son's BSA troop, but certainly want something strong enough to "cut thru the trees/leaves", and not sure the little pocket device will suffice.

Thanks again
CD

My 9650 works inside my house. Why wouldn't it work through some trees of leaves. I don't see any reason why you wouldn't be able to just use your phone.

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However, what if one wanted to use it as a more traditional GPS, with waypoints, latitude/longitude, etc? Does that not require VZ Navigator, or an external GPS device? Seems that such devices are accurate to 10 meters, and not sure the built in GPS is so accurate? Tried something yesterday from a 3rd party entity that I downloaded called "Where" from the Blackberry App site, and it told me my location was accurate to "1200 meters"!!! not helpful if trying to get out of trouble in the White Mountains of New Hampshire with 15 scouts and dads!

Originally Posted by Stides

Thanks. I should have realized that anyway.

OK, so here is what I did so far. I wiped the device clean (to a 507 error) and then reloaded the latest verizon wireless os (5.0.0.732). I ran the gps "test" as described in this thread. I ran it in my house and it fixed properly returning my latitude and longitude immediately (it reported a fix in 396 milliseconds). However, I noticed that bb maps and google maps still took a long time to fix. Once they got a fix they were locked on there, but it took several minutes. This happened whether I was inside or outside of my house. I also slowly added programs that use gps (poynt and flixster) one by one and this did not have any impact on the gps fixing issue. I haven't put on endomondo yet. It was still very frustrating because it just took way too long to get a fix. Sometimes it was quicker than others, but even 2 minutes is too long imo when you are out somewhere and need to know where you are or need directions.

I then went through the permissions for vlingo and denied the specific permission for location. I installed this and use it frequently without even thinking it would have any impact on my gps. Yes, vlingo has a permission to ultilize your gps (I have no idea why). I rebooted the phone and now I am getting a fix must faster. Within 20 seconds, even inside my home. It may have worked! I can't take credit for this idea. I found it on this thread:

http://forums.crackberry.com/f145/gp...-maybe-521633/

I never would have thought of this myself, but once again the collective brain trust that is crackberry.com comes through with a good idea. I figured I would report it here. Strangely, I used vlingo on my storm 1 and allowing this permission did not interfere with my gps. Now vlingo is not working on my bold 9650 because I disabled this location permission so it's one or the other right now. I sent an email to vlingo support about this issue. If you don't have vlingo perhaps it is some other app that is interfering with your gps. The process the poster used in the thread above (denying location permissions one by one) may be a worth while way to troubleshoot. That is, of course, if your gps test comes back with a fix so you know it probably isn't a hardware issue.

After you changed the permissions for Vlingo did it work? When I changed location to deny in permissions and rebooted, vlingo would not work. Thanks for any help.

Originally Posted by vyrenee

After you changed the permissions for Vlingo did it work? When I changed location to deny in permissions and rebooted, vlingo would not work. Thanks for any help.

This resolved my gps issue. It locks on quick. However, vlingo will not work with this permission denied. I even tried allow the location permission in vlingo and then turning location awareness to "off" in the vlingo options. I thought that worked but after a reboot vlingo worked but I was having the gps issue. It looks like you need to pick either to use vlingo or have a better functioning gps at this point. I sent an email to vlingo about this issue so I will report back if I hear anything.

cldanielson: I have no idea about waypoints, etc., but my gps gets to 10 meters or less accuracy as reported in google maps (sometimes as low as 3 meters) whether I am iniside my home, in a car, in the woods, etc. Give it a try and see if it works for you before you attempt to use an external gps unit. I have no experience with using a gps puck so I have no idea whether they are compatible with the 9650. Just make sure in options - advanced option - gps you have it set to location on. I also know there are other gps apps that utilize the gps unit in the phone that have more features. I think "gps tracker" is free in app world and uses waypoints but i am not sure. You can get google maps from:

m.google.com/maps

Stides,

thanks for the input... I'll try that app

cld

Originally Posted by cldanielson

However, what if one wanted to use it as a more traditional GPS, with waypoints, latitude/longitude, etc? Does that not require VZ Navigator, or an external GPS device? Seems that such devices are accurate to 10 meters, and not sure the built in GPS is so accurate? Tried something yesterday from a 3rd party entity that I downloaded called "Where" from the Blackberry App site, and it told me my location was accurate to "1200 meters"!!! not helpful if trying to get out of trouble in the White Mountains of New Hampshire with 15 scouts and dads!

****WARNING****

******CAUTION*****

The gps in the 9650 tends to really use the battery. So you may not have enough power to "get out of trouble" in the White Mts or the Green Mts or around town for more than a 4 or 5 hours. Maybe more - but I'd run some power checks using the gps. If a multi-day trip, a real gps handheld unit would be better - it would also be much more water-proof or resistant. The BB can be prone to water damage. My Garmin Dakota is estimated to run about 16 hours on 2 AA cells. Not tracking an entire trip but turning it on periodically makes them last longer.

If bb finds the satellites, it will provide info to about 10-15 feet. If it cannot, then in town it will find cell towers and approx location of 1,200 meters or whatever based on those. In the boonies, there may not be cell towers so no approximation.

gpslogger will track your entire route and store it. It can export it to a universal standard, a garmin standard or google earth format. You can log specific waypoints. You can change the frequency of data. You can also turn it on and off.

Personal story of using the BB gps. I forgot to turn off the connections so it was also searching for signals. It was not a very remote area and I decided to log the trip. Long story, very long story, short, we managed to get lost in a very popular trail system. And too add to that, got separated from my friends. We were out for about 7 or 8 hours. I finally pulled the BB from my daypack. Totally DEAD! It was neither a phone or gps but a dead bb. So it could not tell me and when I found them, us, where we were nor could I called for rescue (besides the point was one of my friends on the trip is Mt Rescue!!!).

Bottom LINE: have maps and compass and do not rely on a BB for getting you and scouts out of a jam. Best advice - of course, do not get into a jam. Use a real gps with much better battery life and designed for damp/wet outdoor use. Carry spare batteries anyway. Save the BB for use as a phone in remote areas if there is a signal and using Manage Connections to turn off the data/phone/etc in the boonies until you need it as a phone.

That being said, I do use Gpslogger on hikes, x-country ski trips and biking but I try to remember its and the BB's limitations. I guess I have logged 7 hour bike rides and some longer hikes but just be aware.

and HAVE FUN!

edited to add: I hope this did not come across as too strong or rude.

Another point is if you are in the boonies the battery will drain quickly if there is no cell signal. One way to prevent this is to disable the connections and then activate them when you are someplace where there is a signal.

A personal experience story I had is I attended an all day training class in an area where there was no cell service. Later on when driving home I noticed the battery was almost dead. Normally the battery is down to about 70-80 percent at the end of the day when I put it on the charger. I also had a MOTO flip phone that did the same thing when there was no cell signal.

Barry

I got a call today after a week. When I originally talked to Verizon, they said they would look into the problem. The man who called me today said the only thing they had found was that Vlingo seemed to cause problems with VZnav. I had denied all the permissions and still had the problem. I deleted Vlingo and no more problem. I thought maybe it was my Endomondo. If I had to chose between the two, Endomondo would win as I use it daily and the nav only occasionally. I never had been able to get vlingo to work well, so I had no problem deleting it.

Hope this helps :)

Originally Posted by F2

****WARNING****

******CAUTION*****

The gps in the 9650 tends to really use the battery. So you may not have enough power to "get out of trouble" in the White Mts or the Green Mts or around town for more than a 4 or 5 hours. Maybe more - but I'd run some power checks using the gps. If a multi-day trip, a real gps handheld unit would be better - it would also be much more water-proof or resistant. The BB can be prone to water damage. My Garmin Dakota is estimated to run about 16 hours on 2 AA cells. Not tracking an entire trip but turning it on periodically makes them last longer.

If bb finds the satellites, it will provide info to about 10-15 feet. If it cannot, then in town it will find cell towers and approx location of 1,200 meters or whatever based on those. In the boonies, there may not be cell towers so no approximation.

gpslogger will track your entire route and store it. It can export it to a universal standard, a garmin standard or google earth format. You can log specific waypoints. You can change the frequency of data. You can also turn it on and off.

Personal story of using the BB gps. I forgot to turn off the connections so it was also searching for signals. It was not a very remote area and I decided to log the trip. Long story, very long story, short, we managed to get lost in a very popular trail system. And too add to that, got separated from my friends. We were out for about 7 or 8 hours. I finally pulled the BB from my daypack. Totally DEAD! It was neither a phone or gps but a dead bb. So it could not tell me and when I found them, us, where we were nor could I called for rescue (besides the point was one of my friends on the trip is Mt Rescue!!!).

Bottom LINE: have maps and compass and do not rely on a BB for getting you and scouts out of a jam. Best advice - of course, do not get into a jam. Use a real gps with much better battery life and designed for damp/wet outdoor use. Carry spare batteries anyway. Save the BB for use as a phone in remote areas if there is a signal and using Manage Connections to turn off the data/phone/etc in the boonies until you need it as a phone.

That being said, I do use Gpslogger on hikes, x-country ski trips and biking but I try to remember its and the BB's limitations. I guess I have logged 7 hour bike rides and some longer hikes but just be aware.

and HAVE FUN!

edited to add: I hope this did not come across as too strong or rude.

F2,

Thanx for the sage advice! No, I would not use this excusively to wend my way thru the woods or mtns. We do use topo maps, and compass, and most boys are familiar with this. Also, always stay on marked trails.. as a surgeon, I drive my troop and Dads crazy w/my conservative approach to these things... am not a Base Jumper type of guy at 50!! too much time in ER and OR putting such mo-rons back together when they come in in pieces... btw, one thing that opened the unit up was going to the menu that allowed me to completely free up the GPS feature.. not sure what the factory setting was, something with "911" in it, but when I did this maneuver, recommended by you or someone on this post, now am at 3-6 meters accuracy!! thank you so much, as I do use it when "on the road" in the car, and am looking for some store/restaurant in my area... 'tis awesome tool!

CD

GPS will not work on my device with Vlingo 4.5.4 installed.
Once removed, my GPS works again.

Originally Posted by cdf3

GPS will not work on my device with Vlingo 4.5.4 installed.
Once removed, my GPS works again.

I heard from vlingo support. They simply told me to set location awareness to off. I told them this did not solve it and they said they are looking into it as they know there are issues with specific devices on specific carriers. Hopefully they solve this issue with an update.

I found the previous version of vlingo online (version 4.5.2) and I installed the .cod file and it seems to work fine and with no gps issue. This can be a temporary fix until vlingo updates the app. The previous version is working well for me so far. The app file can be downloaded here:

MEGAUPLOAD - The leading online storage and file delivery service

I would back up your version of vlingo (4.5.4) with bbsak (blackberry swiss army knife) or blackberry master control program. Then I would use bbsak to install the .cod file. If you have not done this before it is very simple. Once you install bbsak, connect your device, and there is a button that says "INSTALL COD." Click on it , simply browse to where you saved the file on your computer and click ok and it will load it onto your phone. I have location awareness set to off in 4.5.2 but you don't need to mess with the permissions and it doesn't interfere with your gps. There are tons of threads on here on how to use bbsak and bb master control program so if you haven't used them it's fairly easy to find them, download them and dive in.

Originally Posted by Stides

I heard from vlingo support. They simply told me to set location awareness to off. I told them this did not solve it and they said they are looking into it as they know there are issues with specific devices on specific carriers. Hopefully they solve this issue with an update.

I found the previous version of vlingo online (version 4.5.2) and I installed the .cod file and it seems to work fine and with no gps issue. This can be a temporary fix until vlingo updates the app. The previous version is working well for me so far. The app file can be downloaded here:

MEGAUPLOAD - The leading online storage and file delivery service

I would back up your version of vlingo (4.5.4) with bbsak (blackberry swiss army knife) or blackberry master control program. Then I would use bbsak to install the .cod file. If you have not done this before it is very simple. Once you install bbsak, connect your device, and there is a button that says "INSTALL COD." Click on it , simply browse to where you saved the file on your computer and click ok and it will load it onto your phone. I have location awareness set to off in 4.5.2 but you don't need to mess with the permissions and it doesn't interfere with your gps. There are tons of threads on here on how to use bbsak and bb master control program so if you haven't used them it's fairly easy to find them, download them and dive in.

No issues with my GPS so far with version 4.5.2

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