Navigation Problem

MyHD120

Member
Sep 4, 2011
15
1
I live on Long Island, About 100 miles from Manhattan. This should be a hot satellite zone. While traveling to an address I constantly receive the navigation data loss warning. I also get the 'searching for driving directions' pop up which most times never goes away and makes the navigation app useless.. If I'm moving and enter an address for driving directions it never seems to lock in and I get the 2 mentioned warnings above. Is navigation on the Vtab broken? Or do I need a different app.
 

MyHD120

Member
Sep 4, 2011
15
1
What app are you using?

You must use an app that stores the maps on the VTAB or pre-cache the maps if you are using Google maps.

I recommend GPS Status or GPS Test to check your GPS signal

GPS signals can be lost in areas with a lot of tall buildings.

I'm using the app that came on the Vtab; Navigation. There are no tall buildings over 4 stories on most of Long Island. Thank you for your recommendations. I will try them.
 

marvin02

Senior Member
Aug 25, 2011
244
50
I'm using the app that came on the Vtab; Navigation. There are no tall buildings over 4 stories on most of Long Island. Thank you for your recommendations. I will try them.

Then you are using Google maps. Since the VTAB is WiFi only you have to cache the maps while you have a wifi connection. I opted to buy CoPilot because it stores the maps on the phone and it allows you to download a subset of the maps so that you do not fill up all of the user space with map data.
 

MyHD120

Member
Sep 4, 2011
15
1
Then you are using Google maps. Since the VTAB is WiFi only you have to cache the maps while you have a wifi connection. I opted to buy CoPilot because it stores the maps on the phone and it allows you to download a subset of the maps so that you do not fill up all of the user space with map data.

Thank you. Now I understand. It helped reading that whole SD card thing. I will try CoPilot.
 

marvin02

Senior Member
Aug 25, 2011
244
50
Thank you. Now I understand. It helped reading that whole SD card thing. I will try CoPilot.

I am still experimenting with CoPilot. I bought it because it used the least space, due to the ability to download only the maps you need.

You can use the Google Navigation with pre-planning and caching the maps. I don't trust my planning that much and I have no idea if I will be connected to WiFi when I need the nav to work.

Edit: before you buy any app install the free tools I suggested so that you can make sure you GPS is working properly.
 

dornstar

Member
Sep 3, 2011
40
0
Copilot is good. I used it throughout Europe since I didn't have data there on my phone. Worked flawlessly.

Sent from my VTAB1008 using Android Tablet Forum
 
Last edited:

MyHD120

Member
Sep 4, 2011
15
1
I am still experimenting with CoPilot. I bought it because it used the least space, due to the ability to download only the maps you need.

You can use the Google Navigation with pre-planning and caching the maps. I don't trust my planning that much and I have no idea if I will be connected to WiFi when I need the nav to work.

Edit: before you buy any app install the free tools I suggested so that you can make sure you GPS is working properly.

Which version of CoPilot did you buy? I think there are three versions ranging from $4.99 to $19.99?? I did install both GPS Apps. I just have to learn how to read them.

At first use I seem to have 9 satellites available with three engaged. I am a long way from being a heavy nav user, but, just in case I need it I wanted to see if it worked. I got used to using a disc based system in the Acura, which I see is much different.
 

marvin02

Senior Member
Aug 25, 2011
244
50
A user rating of 3.1 out of 5 for a US$25 app?

Jim

I read many of the reviews and most are device specific, are wrong, or deal with the license issue which requires that you de-register the app before changing ti to another device. The problem is that many updates make your phone tablet appear to be another device when it isn't, so you have to de-register before you apply a system update to prevent this. The other frequent complaint is out dated maps. No file based map program can compete with Google when it comes to being up to date.

CoPilot often goes on sale. I got it for $19.99 and have seen it for less. There are also less costly versions available.

If it wasn't for the inability to specify where to put the maps I would gladly pay for the more expensive Navigon app (and if the VTAB could see it in the market). You can blame that on Vizio or the app devs, it doesn't matter because establishing blame doesn't solve the problem. If you read my posts I clearly state that I am testing this. No final conclusions yet.

Sygic is another alternative which I have not tested.

What is your suggestion for a nav app for the VTAB?

Regarding Android market reviews I don't look at the numbers. I read the reviews. Common idiocies:


  • rating an app 1 star for having ads when the description clearly states the app has ads
  • low ratings because the app needs root and the user doesn't know what root is
  • low ratings because an app does not work on their device - sometimes the app is described as being for a specific device not matching the user's phone
While these are not specific to this case I mention them to demonstrate that the reviews need to be read not just reduced to an average rating.
 

thearches

Member
Oct 22, 2011
8
1
What app are you using?

You must use an app that stores the maps on the VTAB or pre-cache the maps if you are using Google maps.

I recommend GPS Status or GPS Test to check your GPS signal

GPS signals can be lost in areas with a lot of tall buildings.

Thanks for those recommendations. I'm having chronic "Searching for GPS" issues with the OEM Navigation app. I first tried GPS Status but abandoned it in favor of GPS Test because GPS Status overlays an ad on top of the GPS coordinates. What were they thinking? The GPS Test programs seems to work well.

GPS Test usually shows multiple satellites but, for some reason, sometimes shows none being used. Sometimes when it does show 1 or more satellites being used, if I switch to Navigation, it works, but other times it doesn't. Oh, for multitasking so I could see if GPS Test also lost the link.

I don't know a lot about GPS, so I don't know if this is normal or if it means my GPS sensor is flaky. Anybody have a thought on that?
 

marvin02

Senior Member
Aug 25, 2011
244
50
thearches,

Sounds like your GPS sensor might be bad. Have you tried it outside? Tried it in an area where another device gets a good signal?

I just tried my VTAB and with GPS Status I got a position 103 seconds (I am inside the house) my phone (Dell Streak) got a position in 18 seconds. I am not using wireless networks on either one for location. I turned on the gps right before running GPS Status. I have the donate key for GPS Status. I use GPS Status on every Android device I own (or have owned) it seems to get a fix when almost no other app does.

Co-Pilot Premium USA is on sale for $14.99 for anyone interested. I still haven't been able to test it on a long trip.

OK - I just ran GPS Status again and got a fix in 13 seconds. GPS Test is showing accuracy of 24 feet and now it improved to 12 feet as I typed this. GPS Status shows within 13 feet accuracy. Google Maps says accurate to 10 meters.

I think that the 4:3 screen might be an issue for the free version of GPS Status as in the donate version the coordinates are right on the bottom of the screen.
 
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