Quote:
Originally Posted by Renate
What does a SIM card have to do with GPS accuracy? Ok, Android Location uses every possible source to figure out where it is, but cell towers give very poor accuracy. The intrinsic accuracy of the GPS is much more important. Also, where I hike there is little reception. OTOH, even without a SIM card your device can track cell towers. Whether it does is another question.
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It’s called aGPS, the a stands for assisted, and phones most definitely use it. If you ever owned an old standalone car GPS you may remember it taking a long time to find its location, especially if you moved it a long distance between uses (e.g. when I traveled from the US to Spain and had to wait over 15 minutes before I could drive my rental car since I brought my own GPS)
The GPS algorithms need to collect a lot of data to do the math necessary to locate you. The closer their initial guess, the faster that can be done.
Try opening your map app on your phone in the middle of a flight, it won’t be able to locate you if you’ve flown very far.