Downloading A-GPS data

[CRGeoCycler]

This isn’t really a question about Tasker per-say, but rather how
Tasker along with another app can make a workaround less painful. I’m
asking this group because Tasker users are *much* more resourceful in
finding solutions to problems than the average Android Joe. :)

It seems my US Cellular Froyo 2.2 update had broken or changed how A-
GPS (assisted GPS) works on my HTC Desire. With Android 2.1, I would
almost always get a GPS satellite fix within 6-8 seconds or so of
starting whatever app was trying to use GPS. Now with 2.2, the first
time I enable the GPS location functionality in Android and try to use
an app, it struggles to get a fix. Running the "GPS Status" app and
clearing and downloading A-GPS data from the Internet tends to make it
better – at least when I close and restart the app trying to use GPS.
Once I finally do get a fix and until I disable the GPS location
setting in Android, I’m good when running an app that needs a GPS fix
again (the fix happens within 6-8 seconds or so).

I think it’s A-GPS related, and something is broken in at least US
Cellular’s 2.2 release. I’ve seen other posts as far back as 10 months
ago where GPS was somewhat broken or behaving similar with Froyo also.

Has anyone else seen anything similar and found a way of automating
downloading A-GPS data from the Internet? The "GPS Status" app
requires going through several menus to clear and download A-GPS data
on demand. I could envision a standalone app that, when run, would be
launched by Tasker and silently do this and then exit whenever an app
that requested the GPS was run. I just haven’t located any other app
that can download A-GPS data on demand that I can launch with Tasker.

Thanks in advance!

[TomL]

Maybe ask the GPS Status app developer to expose those functions via
INTENTS so that third party apps can trigger them?

Tom

[TomL]

And hint to the developer that you'll pay for Tasker integration. :)

Tom

[CRGeoCycler]

In recent days the GPS has always been getting a fix right away like
it used to before the Froyo 2.2 upgrade. I don’t know if this is a
somewhat temporary situation until the a-gps cache information expires
(I’ve read anywhere from four days to two weeks or so), or if
something else is going on. I completely removed the GPS Status and
Toolbar program to ensure that it’s not responsible for the better
behavior that I’m seeing.

So I may not have to try and automate anything if it turns out to work
okay going forward. But yeah, I was thinking about contacting the
developer and either asking him to make it possible to call the
routines being used, or to possibly publish a simple standalone app to
do this. thanks!

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[deepsix]

In the gps status menus you can enable it to automatically download agps data every 1 day.  Then create a task to open up the app every 2 or 3 days at midnight wait 10 seconds then return to home.  It will open the app, the app will auto download the agps, then go back to the home.

Seems to work for me, I can open google maps and never have to wait for longer than 5 seconds to get a fix now.

[Muad]

May I ask you to share your profile here?
Will be very useful (at least for me).
Thanks in advance.

[CRGeoCycler]

My observations have been that I need to re-download the A-GPS data
about once a week in order for my GPS to get a fix within a few 6-10
seconds. I created the following profile and task that should
accomplish this. For now I’m going to run it daily at 3 AM when I am
least likely to be using my phone, but that may be more frequently
than necessary.


Do this once to enable “GPS Status and Toolbox” automatically
downloading A-GPS data when it is run:
Run GPS Status” manually
Menu > Settings > GPS & Sensors > Auto-download AGPS data > 6 hours
(or less frequent if you choose to have Tasker do this daily)


Profile “GPS Prime”
Context: Time
From: 03:00 (or whatever time you want it to run)
Repeat: (don’t check)
To: 03:00
Task “A-GPS”
Misc > GPS: On
App > Load App: GPS Status
Tasker > Wait: 1 Minute (will probably work with a shorter time
also)
App > Goto Home
Misc > GPS: Off

I choose to keep GPS disabled within the Android OS when I explicitly
don’t need it is why I am turning it on and then off for this task.

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