GPS locating for local search?
 

Do our phones have this capability or service?
I would like to be able to search on google or yahoo or some other service for local listings and not have to input where I am. A lot of times, when I travel to another city, I have no idea what zip code I am in. But I would like to be able to search for the nearest "bank", or "bar", etc. I was hoping the GPS function built into our phone chips would allow us to be located relative to a search parameter. Does Blackberry have this application?

Thanks

anyone? anyone?
 

Does anyone know about this? Seems like it would be very useful. Similiar to the Mapquest find me feature for Sprint. I'm on cingular.

anyone? anyone?

I don't think Google local supports GPS...

No GPS built into any Blackberry, to my knowledge. Maybe it'll change in the future?

The only PDA/Phone that has GPS built in is the HQ iPaq HW6515

I thought all modern cell phone chips had GPS built in - especially 3G capable phones. That's how they can track 911 calls to cell phone locations.

nope they "triangulate" your location via cell phone towers, they can track which ones recived and what not and thats how they find you or atleast thats what i have been told.

I believe the newer Nextel BBs have GPS built in.

Most mobile networks (at least all the GSM networks have it, I don't know about CDMA networks) have a feature called Cell Broadcast. The phone towers keep broadcasting their location periodically and most ordinary mobile phones have the ability to capture this message and display the location/name of the nearest tower. While this is not as accurate as a GPS device in pin-pointing the location of the phone user, it does narrow down the area that the phone user might be in at a given time. For the purpose that dougie360 has in mind, this should be sufficient. The problem however is I don't know how to get the BB to display the cell broadcast information. On most regular mobile phones (again I am talking only about GSM phones, I don't know anything about CDMA phones) this is available as an optional setting that you enable. On the BB 8700 also there is an option (in settings) called "Cell Broadcast", however I have never managed to get it to work. Does anyone know how to do that?

I found out how to turn on "cell broadcasting" - it's under settings. options, advanced options. However, after reading this post, it doesn't seem that this is the trick to enable GPS locating for search purposes.
http://www.blackberryforums.com/show...l+broadcast%22

Man, it would be neat if I could just pick up my blackberry anywhere in any city, and just type in "find me the nearest...."

If you have a BT GPS puck, then Spot for BB is only $49. Have not tried it yet.

That's pretty hot stuff, didn't know about that! Now, is that GPS enabled for customer use or just for network tracking/post 9-11 tracking?

GPS enabled for customer use. Check out Telenav, as an example.

Thanks. However after going to Settings ->Advanced options->Cell broadcast, I turned the "Cell Broadcast Service" On (it was off) and then added a Channel since the "Channel list" was empty. But nothing happens! I don't receive any cell broadcast information on the BB. Contrast that with what happens on my good old simple Nokia phone. When I turn the "cell broadcast" on, the phone starts displaying the name/location of the cell tower that I am presently connected to in the center of the screen. If I am travelling in a taxi from one end of the city to the other - it will keep displaying the name of the area that I am passing through in real time. I looked up the other thread that is mentioned in your post. But that also doesn't say what settings are needed on the Blackberry to receive and display the "Cell Broadcast" information!

where do we get teh channels?

The main purpose of "Cell Broadcast" is to send you location based information like traffic and weather, and local advertizing. This is common in Europe but pretty scarce in the US.

I've only used BB devices on GSM but most CDMA devices have Assisted-GPS built in which is part of the E911 system but it can also be used by phone applications to get more precise location info. It's not as accurate as full GPS but it's better than tower triangulation alone.

GPS Local Search For BB
 

trackem.com has a new application called Trackem Plus that works on the BB7520 and 7100. This will show you turn by turn directions and maps to your nearest points of interest such as ATM's, gas stations, hotels, shopping malls, restaurants etc. Also neat is the feature of saving locations and then getting turn by turn directions back to those saved locations from your current position.:razz: