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Google Maps to Bring GPS-Like Positioning on iPhone?

macrumors.com — Google is set to launch a new feature in Google Maps for Mobile that will automatically set our location even in phones that lack a global positioning system (GPS) device.

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  • TimmyGUNZ, on 11/28/2007, -1/+12FTA: "The iPhone's version, however, is not yet upgradable to this new beta version. Apple has indicated it plans on deploying new features to the iPhone time, so it seems likely that this feature may find its way into a future iPhone software update."
    • xGrill, on 11/28/2007, -6/+1I
    • maverick999, on 11/28/2007, -8/+2DUPE: http://digg.com/software/Google_Maps_for_Mobile_Sh ...
    • h2d2, on 11/28/2007, -13/+18It's great that you had to put iPhone in the title, otherwise this would have been lost forever.

      I mean, the fact I just download an S60 3rd Edition version of this updated Google Maps on my N73 doesn't mean *****... unless someone on an iPhone gets it.
      • toetagger, on 11/29/2007, -0/+4It got even your attention...
      • crackintosh, on 12/01/2007, -0/+1I think the point is it will, kind of, add the missing GPS feature to the iPhone. and it has a "?" indicating it being a possibility. Hence submitted to "Apple" section.
    • faithfreedom, on 11/28/2007, -0/+8Navizon does the same thing. But you have to pay for it. I hope this Google feature is free
      • quaxon, on 11/28/2007, -1/+1since when do you have to pay for navizon? ive been using it for a few weeks now and i dont remember them taking any credit card info, are they secretly charging me?
        • cgruber, on 11/28/2007, -0/+8It's a demo dude.
        • skinfitz, on 11/29/2007, -0/+1You have to pay for the GPS-less version. With your own GPS Navizon is free, and it's how they obtain their data by mining it from GPS users.
        • mysticjim, on 11/29/2007, -0/+115 day demo, I'm on my 2nd demo with a 2nd username...
    • jehanr, on 11/28/2007, -6/+1Free with localised ads on the maps i suppose
      • qpn6ph9q, on 11/29/2007, -0/+2Yes despite your cynicism, having business information on the maps is a benefit to me at least. Where is the nearest restaurant, bar, hotel etc would be impossible without business participation. And because of this advertising the whole service is free.
    • jehanr, on 11/28/2007, -6/+1Free with localised ads on the maps i suppose
    • Insanitation, on 11/29/2007, -4/+4This isnt iPhone specific. Just fanboys acting like apple is cool again ...this works with any top end phone...been messing with it today on my Blackberry Pearl. Its only acurate to 1700ft but still cool to mess with.
      • toetagger, on 11/29/2007, -1/+3"sometime in the next half mile turn left..."
  • iNunchuk, on 11/28/2007, -9/+22Microsoft/Apple, this is why everyone loves Google.
    • d3dm, on 11/29/2007, -1/+15Nah. People like Google because everything they do is seemingly free.
    • TypeEE, on 11/29/2007, -0/+6They seems to do a lot of things that is not asking for return.
      Forexample, gmail with imap, pop and email forwarding which their users will skip reading their ads, but it seems okay with them.
      google docs is free
      grandcentral is free
      spend money on renewable energy research.
      tries to open up the 700Mhz band.

      They seemed to do things that benefit grassroot individuals.
    • babakshirazi, on 12/07/2007, -0/+1Google seems to be making a fortune from all this "free" stuff. Free my ass, they rip off the advertisers with click fraud.
  • amulrean, on 11/28/2007, -0/+18Naivizon worked great on my iPhone till the subscription ran out. I can't wait to see this feature in a future update of google maps on the iPhone.
  • Interestingness, on 11/28/2007, -6/+1heard about Google Gadagets for mac?
    http://thunkdifferent.com/2007/11/28/google-gadget ...
  • capitocapito, on 11/28/2007, -4/+6Awesome! I can't wait until I can start tracking people!
  • neiltc13, on 11/28/2007, -9/+2Buried as spam. Correct link:

    http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9824546-7.html?pa ...

    Normalkid has a history of spamming macrumors here, just look at his profile.
    • Insanitation, on 11/29/2007, -0/+3It is fanboyism. It has nothing to do with the iPhone exept the fact that it is 1 of the very many phone this works on. I have been messing with it today on my Blackberry Pearl.
  • krische, on 11/28/2007, -3/+3Installed the beta on my Samsung A900, said "my location" feature was not compatible with my device. I hoping it's just because its in beta and they are still working on it.
  • supershawn, on 11/28/2007, -4/+63"Google Maps to Bring GPS-Like Positioning on ANY Phone?"

    Fixed.

    Why single out the iPhone when it works on any phone (well, EXCEPT the iPhone at this time)
    • sdub74, on 11/28/2007, -6/+9Because Apple fanboys think that the iPhone is the best thing ever and no other phones come close.

      They also feel the need to tell you they have an iPhone, "I'll send you a text message on my iPhone" Wow, what's this text messaging thing that you can do with your iPhone, and why can't I do it with my phone?
      • marm0lade, on 11/29/2007, -3/+8ask them to send you an MMS from their iphone.
        • UrinalPooper, on 11/29/2007, -1/+2SMS, an important element of the horse and cart of our early 21st century..

          Zips by in his Model 'A'. When everyone else is speeding by me in Model 'T's I'll wonder if they still need those buggy-whips.

          To apply the Sam Jackson filter: "Email, *****, can you use it!?"
          • marm0lade, on 11/29/2007, -2/+5MMS is a basic function of all portable "entertainment devices", which the iphone claims to be. Requiring email to send a simple picture is cumbersome and shows laziness on apple's part.
          • skinfitz, on 11/29/2007, -2/+2Your point might have been made better had you spelt 'MMS' correctly.
      • crackintosh, on 12/01/2007, -0/+1wow, your phone doesn't text? that sucks. upgrade.
    • vhold, on 11/29/2007, -2/+5I love the fact that this feature now -actually- exists on other phones, but what we get for a story here is speculation about the iPhone.
    • Fidodo, on 11/29/2007, -5/+2Don't you know the iphone is the only phone that has ever existed in the history of ever?
    • drpcken, on 11/29/2007, -1/+2Yea I just tested this on my Tilt and it works great. Very precise.
    • toetagger, on 11/29/2007, -0/+3ONE person submitted THIS article under Apple (why are you here?). You are free to also submit it with any title you like under another category.
  • snotrokit, on 11/28/2007, -5/+12Don't know about you, but my BlackBerry 8800 already has it. Fire up Google Maps, hit 0, it pulls up Google Earth or Maps on your GPS location.
    Oh yeah, it will load real time traffic as an overlay too.
    • forcedfx, on 11/28/2007, -0/+8Your 8800 has a built in GPS sensor. Quite a bit more accurate and reliable than cell tower triangulation.
      • fryguy1013, on 11/29/2007, -0/+2Unless you're on verizon, then you have to pay for a bluetooth one.
    • crackintosh, on 12/01/2007, -0/+1Well thats great for you, but what does that have to do with what were talking about. you dont even need the feature! you have GPS on your 8800.
  • emomakesmecry, on 11/28/2007, -10/+10"Accurate within 10 city blocks"? Not good enough. Apple, we want GPS in v2.0. No excuses.
    • zydeco, on 11/28/2007, -3/+5Oh yes sir. We'll get right on that for you.
      • marm0lade, on 11/29/2007, -2/+3Yea, really. I was going to post this but you beat me to it. So they can tell you that you are in manhattan but not where. How exactly is that helpful?
        • macslut, on 11/29/2007, -0/+2I'd like real GPS, but this definitely is an improvement. Imagine driving and wanting to check traffic in your area. It could be a touch away as opposed having to type in the name of the area. The same is true for searches...it just makes it faster/easier most of the time, but occasionally, you could find yourself out of state and not know exactly what city (or area of the city) you're at.

          But ya, real GPS would be something that would get me to buy v2.0 in a heartbeat.
  • kushed, on 11/28/2007, -4/+5I have install the Beta on my Blackberry 8703 and Touch (both Sprint), GPS-less My Location service did not work on Touch (windows Mobile 6) but worked Great on Blackberry, it really pin pointed my location. Good job Google, love your services, innovation and the competition that you create. Thank you, god bless, and do no evil.
  • Crumbles, on 11/28/2007, -25/+23I thought the iPhone was a "revolutionary" device? No GPS? Hrm. Hang on, let me get out my N95 that's had real web browsing and an actual GPS unit in it. Oh, and a better camera. Oh, and a better video camera.... and 3rd party apps.... and VoIP... *****, what was that other thing called again? The iPast? iPhone... hahaha, welcome to 1980.
    • faithfreedom, on 11/28/2007, -8/+13N95 is too bunky for my taste.
    • cgruber, on 11/29/2007, -3/+13Aww somebody is jealous.
    • VANOS, on 11/29/2007, -9/+6It's about time the iPhone caught up in at least ONE area... oh wait... it's not real GPS. Ok, iPhone still behind. N95 FTW
    • deadbaby, on 11/29/2007, -2/+2GPS is hardly revolutionary but yeah, it's a 1.0 product -- probably didn't have time to do proper software for it so they scratched it for this rev. Apple is pretty good at not half assing stuff. If they can't do it right, they wait until they can.
    • osko2052, on 11/29/2007, -0/+2Stop it!!! You will make the Apple fanboys cry. Go Blackberry!
    • Icebird, on 11/29/2007, -0/+2yay for phones with all these functions but crappy user interfaces! yay!
  • iamafatguy, on 11/28/2007, -0/+2It'd be cool to integrate that with a geocaching.com scraper to show you where nearby caches are. Currently available through trimble on some phones/carriers, but not on my carrier, nor an iphone.
  • rushco, on 11/28/2007, -2/+6Now I can find Waldo.
  • seraph582, on 11/28/2007, -5/+6explains why apple didn't put GPS on the jesus phone - isn't there a high-up from google in their board of directors?
    • DomZy, on 11/28/2007, -3/+3They couldn't put 3G, and you think they might have considered GPS?
      • UrinalPooper, on 11/29/2007, -1/+3In the states 3G isn't the end all be all. It's faster, but EDGE is more common. I drove through sweet BFE with EDGE and I was shocked at where I was able to get a connection. YMMV
        • skinfitz, on 11/29/2007, -2/+3That would be because US mobile phone systems are about six years behind Europe.
    • starf, on 11/29/2007, -0/+2I'm more inclined to believe it was more to do with physical space and battery consumption.
      Google could have easily integrated a gps into their map application.
      • skinfitz, on 11/29/2007, -0/+1They could have simply allowed the iPhone to pair with a GPS so it could be used by apps. Google Maps on Windows Mobile allows connection to a Bluetooth GPS. The problem is with the iPhone, not Google Maps.
        • starf, on 11/29/2007, -0/+2Agreed. Was saying they probably didn't leave out gps because of google being represented on their board.
  • saqer, on 11/28/2007, -4/+3get with the program people...doesn't work on my Sprint Windows Mobile phone. Not expecting to work for iphone anytime soon.
  • CunningLinguist, on 11/28/2007, -11/+5I am sick of every story about a phone putting the ***** iPhone in it when it's not necessary. Here a Blackberry works now today, iHype soon but not yet, but look what the author put in the headline.
  • chrisvdmerwe, on 11/28/2007, -1/+4Works on my BlackBerry 7105t. The longer you leave it on the more accurate it gets! Very cool.
  • Barbarino, on 11/28/2007, -2/+16Turn ahead in 10 blocks or so then go straight another 10 blocks or so and arrive at your destination which may be 10 blocks away...
    • jordan314, on 11/28/2007, -0/+2Did you try it? It's actually a lot better than 10 blocks.
      Generally you want directions to be precise at the end, not at the start. Google maps does this.
      • pinchduck, on 11/29/2007, -1/+0I'm guessing that it is better than 10 blocks in places with high cell tower density. Out in the burbs, or the rural areas, I'll guess that the accuracy drops considerably. I personally can't see how "maybe it's accurate, maybe it isn't" is better then a gen-u-ine GPS lock, but that is just me.
        • starf, on 11/29/2007, -0/+2I don't think anyone said it's better than a real gps. The point is that it's better than nothing.
          I hate typing in a street name and having it show up on the other side of the country.
  • jserio, on 11/28/2007, -3/+14"This positioning technology is said to be accurate within 10 city blocks."

    I.E. 1 mile! Not even close to accurate!
    • s0u1man, on 11/29/2007, -1/+1It's close if all you're looking for is any coffee shop.
  • FredFredrickson, on 11/28/2007, -3/+2So now they would not only receive pings from your phone every time you search, but potentially your location as well.
    • cr3ative, on 11/28/2007, -1/+3Watch the video, you fearmongering douche.
  • jordan314, on 11/28/2007, -0/+4oh hell yes, just tried it and this works great on my T-mobile wing. 10 blocks sounds like a lot but mine was only off by 2. Still good enough to find the closest pizza delivery joint or get directions. Agreed though that the iphone name dropping in the title is lame.
    Proper link on your phone: http://google.com/gmm
  • vjeko, on 11/28/2007, -2/+6Tested it on my N95 and it's very accurate.
  • ryanknapper, on 11/28/2007, -0/+2What about adding WAP BSSIDs to the database?
  • kamel, on 11/28/2007, -0/+2This rocks. Sprint locks out any GPS for any apps that aren't "official" Sprint apps.
    • BoltSteve, on 11/29/2007, -0/+1I'm not locked out on my Treo 700p. Bought it from Sprint, then bought Tom Tom Navigator and been loving it.
    • Arkanjal, on 11/29/2007, -0/+0Also on the Motorola Q9C....fully functional GPS.
    • neodorian, on 11/29/2007, -0/+1aGPS will be unlocked on the Mogul and Touch in January as well.
  • blesbok, on 11/28/2007, -3/+2Sweeeeet, now I can download maps at the speed of snail and they will only be off by 10 blocks. lulz @ iphone.
  • forcedfx, on 11/29/2007, -0/+1I just loaded v 2.0 on my Blackberry and it's pretty damn close. Close enough to help me find my way to a cross street if I'm lost. This should hold me over till I get my bluetooth GPS sensor.
  • superkendall, on 11/29/2007, -0/+1There's already a third party application for the iPhone which uses said cell data to take you to your current location on the iPhone Google Maps. It would be nice to have it baked in though.
  • LoudMusic, on 11/29/2007, -0/+1"This positioning technology is said to be accurate within 10 city blocks."

    Say WHAT? I understand I don't work in a very big city, but ten city blocks in Little Rock, Arkansas, and you're out of downtown. The video even points out "My current location within 1000 meters" - for those of you who are metric-handicapped, that's almost ELEVEN football fields. And that's radius, not diameter. That's a HUGE area. I thought cell triangulation was far more accurate than that.
    • senatorpjt, on 11/29/2007, -0/+1Yeah, 10 blocks is useless. Unless you know what street your on, knowing in what part of the city you are isn't that helpful.
      • psylence, on 11/29/2007, -0/+1Open your eyes and look @ a street sign? If you don't know what street you're on you have other issues.
  • corey1505, on 11/29/2007, -0/+1doesn't work on my mogul yet
  • mikealive, on 11/29/2007, -0/+1here's a rundown of how it works on symbian phones without gps, even though the review is using the Nokia N95 that does have GPS, they disabled it.
    looks pretty promising.
    http://symbianaddict.blogspot.com/2007/11/new-goog ...
  • designet, on 11/29/2007, -1/+1buried as HUGELY innacurate
    works on everything EXCEPT iPhone????
    whats next, "good news Wii fans,rock band released!"
    Shame Windows Mobile phones have been fully GPS and TomTom enabled for YEARS now, Apple NEARLY caught up then, except they turned out to be the only company that hadnt

  • farksucks, on 11/29/2007, -3/+1I had this exact same feature on a motorola flip phone in 1999. it had a basic WAP browser and would tell you your location to within about a mile, and give you a weather forecast or the address to the nearest pizza place or movie theater. I wasnt aware that the concept of "triangulation" by checking the signal from nearby cell phone towers was a new discovery.
    I find it absolutely hilarious that Google has the balls to try and claim this is some revolutionary technology when practically every WAP enabled cell phone had the same "faux GPS" over 8 years ago.
    Seriously- how much of Google's recent "innovation" is based on the assumption that most of their audience is too young to realize this ***** was done LONG ago?
  • diotro, on 11/29/2007, -0/+1Walking through NYC will be like playing Streetside-Sudoku with a gigantic playing field.
  • dimplemonkey, on 11/29/2007, -1/+1I really hope they're not using Navison's software for triangulation. It sucks like a Hoover.
  • mysticjim, on 11/29/2007, -1/+2I like turtles
    • TheMidnight, on 11/29/2007, -0/+1I like clever comments, not like yours.
  • shadowmoose, on 11/29/2007, -3/+1Your title makes it seem this is only for the iphone, which makes you and everyone who loves apple and that gay brand fags.
  • chkdg8, on 11/29/2007, -1/+1http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6gqipmbcok
    "You might ask, Does Google know where I am? The answer is no. In order for you to receive a normal call, your phone is to locate and connect to a nearby tower. Google uses the same location information for My Location. It tells Google where a handset is but not who's using it, their phone number or any other personal information. And, if you want, you can always disable the feature."

    I love it. What a rat pack of lies! Google is practically in bed with the intelligence community but now they want you to believe that you posses the ability to turn the feature "off". Hey, this might be a good way to enhance the mobile GPS capabilities but don't try to feed us a big bowl of ***** chilly stew.
  • whiteyMcBrown, on 11/29/2007, -1/+110 blocks is lame. I'm a huge Apple fan and I appreciate them leaving out technologies until they aren't *****, anymore. I hope they don't sully that reputation by including this. Just put GPS in the next iPhone.
  • nosferatuz, on 12/02/2007, -0/+0The CIA will love this new feature.
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