OT iphone GPS

[vqdriver]

curious to know if the iphone's gps system relies on the network or if it's independent. meaning, if i go out of network, like a national forest, and i get no cell reception but have a clear view of the sky, will it work like any 'normal' gps?

[11.4]

It needs both GPS access and G3 (cellular network) access. Out of cellular range, it won't work. The upside is that its content is continuously upgraded and you can do searches and queries you can't always do on a handheld driven by a data card. The downside is that you are tethered to the cellular network.

[gone]

I don't know if it's possible on the iPhone, but on the Droid you can preload maps for when you don't have cell phone coverage. I'd be amazed if there isn't an app for it on the iPhone as well.

[Ray]

I don't know if it's possible on the iPhone, but on the Droid you can preload maps for when you don't have cell phone coverage. I'd be amazed if there isn't an app for it on the iPhone as well.
There are tons of such apps. And in an area with cell coverage, the gps will show you where you are on those preloaded maps. But without a cell network, the gps function evidently won't be able to do it alone. Bummer. Maybe I'll walk around European cities with my little Garmin 605 in my shirt pocket this summer.

-Ray

[11.4]

There are tons of such apps. And in an area with cell coverage, the gps will show you where you are on those preloaded maps. But without a cell network, the gps function evidently won't be able to do it alone. Bummer. Maybe I'll walk around European cities with my little Garmin 605 in my shirt pocket this summer.

-Ray

Without an iPhone you buy in Europe with a European plan, do beware. iPhone GPS consumes a huge amount of data and you will be billed at exorbitant rates. Those data billing rates are killers. A colleague spent just over a week in Europe and collected a $1400 cell bill.

[Ray]

Without an iPhone you buy in Europe with a European plan, do beware. iPhone GPS consumes a huge amount of data and you will be billed at exorbitant rates. Those data billing rates are killers. A colleague spent just over a week in Europe and collected a $1400 cell bill.
I talked to ATT about this and they have international data plans that cost $200 a month for more data than either my wife or I have ever used on our iphones here at home (its either 200 or 250 mb, I forget which). And we use them pretty heavily here. In terms of gps use, we aren't directly USING gps that much here, but its always on, right? I assume I'd use it walking in Europe like I'd use it biking around here. Generally I'm not looking at it, but periodically, I'll turn on the map and have it show me where I am just as a point of reference. So I'm assuming we could stay within that $200 without too much trouble. If you have reason to think that's wrong, let me know. I seriously might just walk around with my Garmin 650 in a pocket or in my photo bag and let that tell us where we are.

-Ray

[sg8357]

It sounds like the Iphone has a gps chip, so you get lat and log.
Then the iphone downloads the map data based on your location,
so if you are doing a "Tuesday, this must be Belgium" type of trip,
that is lot of map data downloading.

[DfCas]

I would turn off "location services" except for immediate needs. It eats the battery and downloads a lot of data.

Also, for best battery life and phone service, turn off wifi, 3g, fetch, push, along with location services.

[SoCalSteve]

I would turn off "location services" except for immediate needs. It eats the battery and downloads a lot of data.

Also, for best battery life and phone service, turn off wifi, 3g, fetch, push, along with location services.

This is my thought...When you turn this off, all GPS functions cease to work. When you go to an app that needs GPS functions to work with this feature off, it will point you there to turn it back on.

Doing this will guarantee that you wont go over your allotment. You can use it only when you really need it and not have it on all the time.

Its: settings, general, location services.

Good luck!

[gone]

There are tons of such apps. And in an area with cell coverage, the gps will show you where you are on those preloaded maps. But without a cell network, the gps function evidently won't be able to do it alone. Bummer. Maybe I'll walk around European cities with my little Garmin 605 in my shirt pocket this summer.

-Ray

I've never actually used the Droid app "off the grid" yet so I might be wrong but I have put the phone in "Airplane mode" which turns off all the radios then turned the GPS on explicitly and the app instantly found my position and I could move the map around to see what was in the area. I preloaded various zoom levels for a 40 square mile area around where I live since there are lots of places where I ride that don't have coverage but, as I said, I've haven't tried it out there yet.