GSM location gets priority over GPS location

umpfumpf ✭✭
edited August 2021 in Report a Bug

I realize that the position code inside Ingress is a delicate one, but I think it needs some tuning. Very often my ingress location jumps to some specific spot, which isn't my location. It can easily be a few hundred meters away. I assume this is a location based on GSM signal triangulation, not GPS. I can move around and it still jumps to that same location. This can happen in the middle of nowhere, in wide open fields. And it can take minutes before it might jump back to my real location. If it takes too long, it might tell me "no location". Note that this is ONLY in ingress, other apps like google maps, are very precise in determining my location, there is no visible jitter. The Android app "GPS status" shows that I have a fix on 25 satellites, so clearly the GPS is not the problem. That program also tells me the horizontal dilution of precision (HDOP) is like 1.2 or 1.4, which according to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dilution_of_precision_(navigation) is excellent quality.

Attached is an extreme example. The starting point of the blue cycling line is in the lower right. This is where Ingress stopped tracking my position. Half way I started GPS-status and made a quick snapshot. The end point of the blue line, where the red marker is, is the point where ingress picked up my location again. The inset in the two screenshots is from Google maps navigation, which had no trouble whatsoever to follow the my correct location. Note this isn't in a forest or near buildings at all.

While being desperate, I discovered that sometimes it helps to switch WiFi tracking on or off. Hitting that switch seems to trigger ingress, into changing its mind, but it often doesn't help. Note in this particular example there isn't any wifi signal in range, so the wifi tracking itself is irrelevant in this case.

One could assume that when the GPS location is inaccurate, Ingress might use the GSM based location. So I suspect that the algorithm is a bit too eager to use the GSM position. It should instead keep using the still pretty accurate GPS position.

This is just one example, but I have many more. It is getting really frustrating to have to wait 5 minutes next to a portal before Ingress finally set me at the correct position (sometimes for a short moment). I hope you can adjust some parameter in your algorithm so it doesn't jump that quickly to GSM based location but keeps to GSM.


best regards,

  • on an sony xz2 compact running Android 10


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  • When I play games in my house, it says that my location is in the middle of the parking lot. When it first started, it was well positioned and even when it went into the bathroom. it moved more than 40 meters at some point, or if it stayed still, it moved freely. Previously, when I was at home, the portal was caught well because it was within range, but it was hard to go out after Corona, so I had to stay at home. For your information, my phone is Samsung Galaxy Note 20. It is the first time that the location has been shifted so strangely. And when I checked with the kinetic capsule, the number of meters needed for the kinetic capsule moving up due to the effect of the gps is moving even though i didn't go. I'd like you to take measures to get the exact location. So that the GPS doesn't make the game uncomfortable.

  • If you turn off Google Location Service's Location Accuracy feature, the game is your current location. It wasn't like this before, but if you turn off location accuracy, navigation won't work, but if you want to get an accurate location, you have to turn off location accuracy service before playing the Ingress game, which is a number of inconveniences. Coordination points with the Location Accuracy Service System and the Ingress Location System appear to be required. It's easy to catch with GPS, but I'm worried about where to go with just one location service system.

  • umpfumpf ✭✭

    I accidentally wrote "I hope you can adjust some parameter in your algorithm so it doesn't jump that quickly to GSM based location but keeps to GSM" but what I intended to write was "I hope you can adjust some parameter in your algorithm so it doesn't jump that quickly to GSM based location but keeps to GPS based location".

    Note also that it doesn't matter if I'm cycling around or standing still, the problem is exactly the same.

  • Today, GPS was caught and moved well when walking around where there were no people. However, for example, if me came home, connect to the Wi-Fi, and check, my location is back in the middle of the parking lot. Even when I disconnected the Wi-Fi and checked it. it was frustrating and difficult.

  • umpfumpf ✭✭

    @@BlueSeeker12 What happens when you put your phone into flight mode, and after that turn wifi on and restart ingress. Does it still go the wrong parking lot location?

  • @umpf Airplane mode was set with the help of known methods and local agents, but the symptoms were still the same and markers are rotating in the parking lot to date.

  • umpfumpf ✭✭

    they just released a new verison. How is that doing for you.?

  • It was a parking lot in the previous update, but it's the same in the update two days ago. It was well positioned before the 3rd update, but I'm so upset.

  • Two days after I wrote the above, GPS began to be captured. But a few days later, two days ago, my position suddenly changed, and if you look at my current position where I'm walking, the icon is on the way to the car. I was embarrassed and restarted several times, but the same symptoms continue. It's so frustrating.

  • BlueSeeker12BlueSeeker12 ✭✭
    edited September 2021

    There is a location in the parking lot after GPS update about 3 days ago. In the past, two out of three nearby portals could hack, but now you can't touch anything within the radius. I don't know what happened. It's because the portal doesn't contact within the radius.

  • We have confirmed that it is moving tremendously in its current position. My location is green, which is the first place I started playing games, and I want to play games there again.

  • The location has been normal and changed again since the update and event 5 days ago. I don't know why, but I'm worried that it's causing too much trouble in the game. It will get colder and colder, but there will be more users at home, so please fix it.

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