Hello:

I have encountered a strange problem with my new Blackberry 8830 and Google Maps. I paired my 8830 with a GPS puck I already had from TeleNav, that I used on my old Blackberry 8703e. The pairing went well, and I used the unit with Blackberry Maps, and all went perfectly.

HOWEVER, then I invoked the Google Maps program (while my 8830 was paired with the GPS puck), I immediately got a message that said, "Press 0 for Your Location." I pressed "0" and nothing happened. In fact, my Blackberry seemed to be locked up. Pressing the Escape button and/or the return to homescreen button produced NO action. Finally, after waiting for several minutes, in desperation I powered down my 8830.

When I repowered the 8830, I got a message something to the effect that my 2 Gig media/datacard needed to be formatted. Apparently, somehow Google Maps had corrupted the data on my media card. I had to reformat the card on my laptop before it could be used again in the Blackberry.

Fortunately, I had no files on the media/data card that were not backed up elsewhere, but now I'm afraid to even try Google Maps again, while the 8830 is paired with the GPS puck.

I would appreciate ANY advice that anyone could give me on this problem. Thanks ever sooo much in advamce!

I have not seen this reported. I would try again. It can hang and stall at times. Which version of GMM. I would try again. Leave the card out and see what happens.

Google maps was designed for that version only as far as i can tell meaning it was built for the 8800 series and is probably set to use the built in GPS as there are no other options its automatic. If you use an aftermarket it probably isn't supported.

So then in order to use this we will have to sign up for the $15 plan if you are on Verizon?

Thank you

Fred

what $15 plan?

In order to use the BT puck with Google Maps on a VZW 8830. you need quit out of google maps and then to go into:

options>advanced>GPS

and set source from: Device GPS to your GPS puck

Then go back into Google maps.

just bought a GlobalSat BT-359 GPS Puck to compliment my new 8830 (Verizon), and while I've had decent luck with the BBMaps, the other two applications I have that are supposedly GPS aware (GoogleMaps and 411Berry) cannot seem to initiate their own connection to the Bluetooth device.

The pairing to the device was straightforward and the only thing I changed from the default settings on the connection was to make the connection Unencrypted. There is no option to "Connect..." to the GPS unit from the BB's BlueTooth options, however (I was expecting to be able to force a connection on in the same way you can force a headset to connect after initial pairing is complete).

Anyway, with BBMaps, this doesn't seem to be an issue. 4 out of 5 times, the application seems to trigger the Bluetooth connection itself (and oddly only as necessary). If I choose "Find My Location", the BB connects to the Puck for ~ 3 seconds, the map updates, and the Puck disconnects (no double blue arrows next to the BlueTooth icon in the titlebar). If I choose "Start GPS", the BB connection to the Puck stays on and the GPS functionality seems to work OK until I choose to stop it (except when driving through a dead zone in Verizon's coverage).

However... here is my problem: Neither GoogleMaps nor 411Berry seem to be able to 'trigger' the BB to connect to the Puck. They either timeout trying to find a location, or often with GoogleMaps, they actually hang the BB and I have to reboot the BB. I'm using GoogleMaps v1.5.4; the most recent version.

The catch here is that if I launch the GPS functionality from within BBMaps, then escape out to the desktop and use either GoogleMaps or 411Berry, they will work perfectly fine! The GPS feature in BBMaps seems to be necessary to keep the connection to the Puck alive so that the other applications can access the GPS locations. This is a pretty crappy work around and I would certainly hope that the issue would not exist with the onboard GPS ($%^&* Verizon for disabling it).

Has anyone else observed this weird behavior with their pucks and an 8830 (or other) BB? Is it my puck that can't keep the connection alive, or the BB, or the software?

Thank you in advance for any help or suggestions... or even confirmations that I'm not the only one.

Upgrading the BlackBerryOS may be a solution - the 8830 is still new and these issues are still being ironed out.

Yes, there is a new OS version just out today-and that just might help. Have you set the bluetooth puck to "trusted" in the device options under bluetooth? Also, under device options in bluetooth there is a list of "Services." Make sure in Google Maps you are using the proper service (as listed in the "Service" list)for your BT puck.

Still have the same issue with Google Maps not being able to initiate the connection to the BT GPS Puck. Yahoo Go! 2 map feature can connect to the puck just fine, though. Seems like an issue more with GoogleMaps than with BB OS.

you are better off using Yahoo Go anyways if u are using it for navigation.Much quicker at loading maps.

Dont bother with Yahoo Go if your in Canada. Cant get the maps to load on a BB 8830. Its still in Beta but needs lots of work still.

Dont write off the program just because you cannot get it to work.