Location finding without GPS

[Ganeshkumar]

Hi

Google's new technology could enable location-finding services on cell phones that lack GPS.

Location without GPS: Google’s new feature on Google Maps, called My Location, can locate a cell phone within about 1,000 meters by interrogating the nearest cell-phone tower.


Last week Google added a new feature, called My Location, to its Web-based mapping service. My Location collects information from the nearest cell-phone tower to estimate a person's location within a distance of about 1,000 meters. This resolution is obviously not sufficient for driving directions, but it can be fine for searching for a restaurant or a store. "A common use of Google Maps is to search nearby," says Steve Lee, product manager for Google Maps, who likened the approach to searching for something within an urban zip code, but without knowing that code. "In a new city, you might not know the zip code, or even if you know it, it takes time to enter it and then to zoom in and pan around the map."


Many phones support software that is able to read the unique identification of a cell-phone tower and the coverage area that surrounds it is usually split into three regions. Lee explains that My Location uses such software to learn which tower is serving the phone--and which coverage area the cell phone is operating in. Google also uses data from cell phones in the area that do have GPS to help estimate the locations of the devices without it. In this way, Google adds geographic information to the cell-phone tower's identifiers that the company stores in a database.

more abt this...
http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/19809/?a=f

More info at

http://www.google.com/gmm/index.html

Download Maps at www.google.com/gmm

on your mobile web browser

For me only opera works... as I am using the net through PC... so I could not download the .jar file

Can any1 download for E6 and upload here?
waiting for uploaded link

[PhantomGhost]

Well I downloaded it and tried it, but no luck, my location doesnt work, guessing its ATT, not sure though. Oh well, would have been great if it had worked. Anyone else have any luck? Also, not really sure how to activate my location, seeing as how you active it with the "0" key... I know it doesnt work cause you can go to help > about, scroll to the bottom, and it says myl: N/A, google says that meants it not working on your device. Or..you can just go to help > my location and it says "Sorry, My Location is not available on this device."

[m1k0]

I downloaded v. 2.0.1 GMM, at start, show my location in about 50 km from my place. After that this app crashed. Now, I can't lunch it

[Ganeshkumar]

I want the jar file!
can any1 upload??

[jdm0830]

lol, it crashed. something went wrong huh, did u restart ur phone?
Juan

[[ds]dragonslayerz]

if u go to google site to dl google map, it'll detect your phone, but the new feature doesn't support our phone yet.

[m1k0]

lol, it crashed. something went wrong huh, did u restart ur phone?
Juan

No, I removed app from Task Manager

[amneto]

I downloaded v. 2.0.1 GMM, at start, show my location in about 50 km from my place. After that this app crashed. Now, I can't lunch it

so it works?


[ds]dragonslayerz if u go to google site to dl google map, it'll detect your phone, but the new feature doesn't support our phone yet.

or it doesn´t?

[aksd]

It said I'm in Tenessee, USA but in reality I'm in Bangalore, India. Is'nt that a laugh. But when I hooked it up to my GPS it worked fine . A lot of people on the WM forums claim that it works quite accurately for them though.

[amneto]

on mine it says that the feature isn´t suported by my phone...
did i do something wrong?

downloaded the jar file from googlemaps.com.