My current location is wrong

[Daniel Violette]

Hi,

When I go to Google Maps inside GPS Essentials, my current location is wrong. It seems to default to my old residence which is 300km away. I haven't lived there for 5 years. If I go outside and get the GPS to locate my position, then the application updates my location correctly, but as soon as I go back inside, loosing GPS, the app defaults back to my old address.

This does not happen if I use Google Maps outside GPS Essentials.

Any ideas how to fix this? I have tried looking in settings, but can't find anything that helps.

Dan

[Michael Schollmeyer]

That's weird. The only thing I can imagine is that your inside location is based on your Wifi location. Add the location provider widget to the dashboard to validate.

Google keeps a database of Wifi access point names and locations. Whenever your device is on Wifi, Google performs a lookup of the location by some Wifi access point identifier. Some if these locations come from Google Street View recordings and they are updated from Android devices that are both on GPS and Wifi. I can imagine that the Google database still has the location of your previous home in their database. This should usually update after some time, not sure why this did not happen in 5 years. There is also no documented way of invalidating or updating the location. Maybe frequent use of GPS while in range of your Wifi hotspot will do this after some time.

Regards, Michael
mictale.com/ms
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[Daniel Violette]

Thanks for your reply, Michael.

You are likely right in pointing to my WiFi location being wrong.

However, things have changed a bit in a way that points to the Google database being the source of the inaccuracy.
I've noticed that my weather app has defaulted to this same bad address, as well as Google Maps outside of GPS Essentials. I previously thought it was OK, because they had remained correct after going outside to let GPS get satelitte readings on my new tablet. However, they just remained correct for longer than GPS Essentials.

I am thinking it has to do with my service provider, which is satelitte. I can't get phone or cable service in this remote area, so this is my only choice for internet service. WiFi location is likely given to Google by service providers, so I will send  them a request to fix this. If you know this to be wrong, please let me know.

In any case, GPS Essentials is not the problem as I had thought.

Cheers, and thanks for your insight.

Dan

[Phil Wright]

Hi Dan,

On Thursday, February 11, 2016 at 8:47:26 AM UTC-7, Daniel Violette wrote:

I am thinking it has to do with my service provider, which is satelitte. I can't get phone or cable service in this remote area, so this is my only choice for internet service. WiFi location is likely given to Google by service providers, so I will send  them a request to fix this. If you know this to be wrong, please let me know.

 I feel your pain with the internet via satellite. Every site I go to thinks I'm in some state other than where I am and it changes somewhat randomly.

Does your current location have an address that Google Maps recognizes?  That is can you get mail or package delivery to your location?  If so then you can update your Home Location as far as what Google thinks it is.

https://support.google.com/gmm/answer/3273402?hl=en

Hope that helps.