[akosnitzky]

Wirelessly posted (Verizon 8830: BlackBerry8830/4.2.2 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/105)

Pardon me if this question was answered.....
Do I need to have the latest VZW software in order to get rid of the blue circle?

[JSanders]

You take the Blue Pill to cure the blue circle.

Honestly, you will get the blue circle anytime the location is observed by the cell tower. It should (mine does) move automatically to the blue dot from gps when gps is read.

[juwaack68]

Originally Posted by audit

I told juwaack68 to get back to work but she's slacking off again, now I can track her down.

juwaack68, don't forgot my coffee while your at starbucks.

Who, me? I was merely testing the uma on my 8830. See? It doesn't have any. Test completed and back to 'work'.

[003402]

Originally Posted by JSanders

Kewl new feature on GMM 2.0 if you input your friend's PIN, it will locate them. Or select from the address book.

A whole new level of stalking potential...wonder if will drive a reduction in the number of PIN's posted on BB forums? But you can only find them within 5000 meters at the high end, so you may be stalking a general area versus a person. I will shut up now.

[akosnitzky]

Wirelessly posted (Verizon 8830: BlackBerry8830/4.2.2 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/105)

Originally Posted by JSanders

You take the Blue Pill to cure the blue circle.

Honestly, you will get the blue circle anytime the location is observed by the cell tower. It should (mine does) move automatically to the blue dot from gps when gps is read.

I do not have the latest VZW software that supposedly enabled GPS?

But I set my device to "Location On"

In other words, there will be error and I am only guranteed to be somewhere in the circle but not necessarily on the dot itself.

[pc132]

Has anybody gotten this working via gps on their Sprint Blackberry Pearl?

For me, Google Maps and Blackberry Maps give different My Location results, indicating that one (I"m guessing Google Maps) is not using the GPS.

[jagthompson]

I have the 8300. It loaded and ran great. This put me within a few blocks of my house!

[Cultjam]

In satellite view, it has me in a living room about 1/4 mile dead west of where I am in my living room in Phoenix. Carriers might make a difference, while out in Chandler, my friend's BB on AT&T/Cingular got within 1/4 mile while mine was nearly a mile north.

It would tickle the heck out of me if you could use it to get a Google SMS text for local movie listings from it. Right now you have to text Google with your zip code and I only know what those are for home and work.

[JRSCCivic98]

OK guys, here's how this works for those of you who DON'T have Full GPS. The cell tower you're attached to is the blue dot indicated on the map. The circular area that you're located within is a correlated from your BB's radio strength. In other words, the loser you are to a radio the lower your radio db is because it doesn't need a lot of power to get a good signal. The further you are the higher the db is to get a good signal or a signal at all. Now, that db rating is used to judege the "xxxx meters" away number it shoots out at you. It's pretty cool of a programming setup if you ask me. What's even cool to me is that up until today I didn't really notice all the cell towers around my town until you actually use this app and then look around and sure enough, there's the tower that the blue dot indicates. I found it kinda funny myself, but it's nice to see which tower you're using. For those of you with crappy signals in certain areas, well... now you can see exactly how far and in which direction that tower that you're connected to is.

[aiharkness]

Wirelessly posted (8700g: BlackBerry8700/4.2.1 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/100)

I think those towers out in St Andrew Bay here must be below the surface. Wonder how they do that?

[JRSCCivic98]

Originally Posted by aiharkness

Wirelessly posted (8700g: BlackBerry8700/4.2.1 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/100)

I think those towers out in St Andrew Bay here must be below the surface. Wonder how they do that?

Did it ever occur to you that the coordinates for some of these towers might actually be incorrectly documented in the lookup database. If so, then the location overlay to the map will be wrong. Remember that each tower has a unique identifier along with a lat/lon and that's what Google uses to overlay it's location on the map. If that was noted incorrectly by the carrier or owner of the tower or whoever manages that info then the location on the map will be wrong. Just FYI.

[amarryat]

Originally Posted by JRSCCivic98

OK guys, here's how this works for those of you who DON'T have Full GPS. The cell tower you're attached to is the blue dot indicated on the map. The circular area that you're located within is a correlated from your BB's radio strength.

Where did you get this info? According to the Help in the Google Maps application, when not using GPS, the blue dot is your estimated location. The light blue circle that surrounds the dark blue dot is the uncertainty zone.

IOW, the blue dot is an estimated location based on the triangulation or whatever algorithm is being used, and the larger light blue circle indicates that you could be anywhere within that zone based on the uncertainty of the estimation. Eg. the 1700 meter, 5000 meter, etc. values that it gives.

In my case, depending on where I am with what little testing I have done, both can be completely wrong, and at other times my location is within their tolerance. Since this is a Beta, errors can be expected.

Edit: My guess is that the help is wrong, and you could be correct in that the blue dot is the cell tower location as defined in a database - and there are errors in the documented locations of these towers. It does seem that the blue dots appear at fixed locations and don't vary other than at these fixed locations, including 2 miles out at sea for one tower near me.

[evo8coop]

is this software free

[akosnitzky]

Originally Posted by evo8coop

is this software free

yes

[akosnitzky]

Originally Posted by JRSCCivic98

OK guys, here's how this works for those of you who DON'T have Full GPS. The cell tower you're attached to is the blue dot indicated on the map. The circular area that you're located within is a correlated from your BB's radio strength. In other words, the loser you are to a radio the lower your radio db is because it doesn't need a lot of power to get a good signal. The further you are the higher the db is to get a good signal or a signal at all. Now, that db rating is used to judege the "xxxx meters" away number it shoots out at you. It's pretty cool of a programming setup if you ask me. What's even cool to me is that up until today I didn't really notice all the cell towers around my town until you actually use this app and then look around and sure enough, there's the tower that the blue dot indicates. I found it kinda funny myself, but it's nice to see which tower you're using. For those of you with crappy signals in certain areas, well... now you can see exactly how far and in which direction that tower that you're connected to is.

What do you define as full GPS?

[JRSCCivic98]

Originally Posted by amarryat

Where did you get this info?

A very simple test. I look at the map location zoomed in on the map where the blue dot is. Then I physically go to that locaton and low and behold, it's a cell tower. Not only that, but the closer I get to the tower the smaller then "larger circle area" gets in tollerance. Granted that I've only done that with one tower, but each and every time I've had GMM up with a dot and I look in the direction of where the dot is on the map in relation to where I am, there's a cell tower. I don't think it's triangulating right now, from what I have observed throughout the day it's definatly a cell tower location with some kind of distance tollerance for the larger circle. The signal strength of your radio's db readout could certainly be used to get "an idea" of how far you are from the tower you're currently echoing from.

[JRSCCivic98]

Originally Posted by akosnitzky

What do you define as full GPS?

Something you and everyone else with Verizon don't have.

Maybe I should have said functioning GPS...

The bottom line is, if GMM2.0 can use the internal GPS it's obvious the location data will be more accurate then the scenario I was talking about above. We know this already because previous version of GMM are accurate with working GPS onboard or on Bluetooth.

[akosnitzky]

Wirelessly posted (Verizon 8830: BlackBerry8830/4.2.2 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/105)

On my wife's 8130, which has 4.3, I still see the blue dot. With the "location on" setting. So I assume you need have an actual GPS client enabled such as VZW navigator. ??????

[aiharkness]

Originally Posted by JRSCCivic98

Did it ever occur to you that the coordinates for some of these towers might actually be incorrectly documented in the lookup database. If so, then the location overlay to the map will be wrong. Remember that each tower has a unique identifier along with a lat/lon and that's what Google uses to overlay it's location on the map. If that was noted incorrectly by the carrier or owner of the tower or whoever manages that info then the location on the map will be wrong. Just FYI.

It was a JOKE.

[aiharkness]

Wirelessly posted (8700g: BlackBerry8700/4.2.1 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/100)

So far I have not had the problem where it hangs and stops updating position. This is something I had with all previous versions, and BB maps, too. A few times the application has taken two or three beats longer to update position, but no totally hanging up.