[Android 8.0/8.1] Indoor GPS Location Issues in Pokemon Go - Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hello,
This has been an ongoing issue for months now and it's still unresolved. It affects large amounts of the playerbase, who run Oreo.
From what I understand, Google has made some changes to the Location API in Oreo and I suppose Niantic has failed to adapt to these changes in Pokemon Go.
The problem doesn't really concern outdoors location, that seems to work fine.
It's indoors, with no satellites in view, where it becomes a hassle.
Every 20-30 seconds or so, the game throws a 'GPS signal not found' error, which goes away in a couple seconds, and repeat over and over. This becomes extremely annoying and makes the game almost unplayable indoors, since that error blocks various actions in the game.
It feels like the game isn't getting location updates often enough from Google's High Accuracy Location Service (using Wi-Fi scanning for indoors location).
This is, however, not an issue on Android Nougat at all, everything works as it should. It's just some change introduced by Oreo causing this.
Now I know, that this is probably the developers' problem to solve, but anyone who has ever played this game knows that Niantic is... let's say special. This has been going on for months now and they haven't done anything.
Therefore I'd like to ask you - anyone with some developer insight - if there is perhaps any way, this could be fixed from my end.
Is there any way to make the Location Services of Oreo behave like on Nougat? Any system setting to change?
Among other things, I've also tried:
- making sure the game is set as 'Not Optimized' under battery optimization settings
- following this setting, trying to whitelist the game from background location throttling (just gave it a shot really, didn't hope for much, since the game has problems in the foreground as well)
- clean install of the system
I'm running the latest LineageOS 15.1 on OnePlus 3 (with root) personally - this issue is however persistent over a variety of devices that run Oreo - looking at one of the game's reddits
Any help would be much appreciated.
EDIT: This is also a non-issue on Android P. (tested on a friend's OnePlus 6 running it)

quick workaround
Set location to GPS Only, go near window to get GPS lock, and back inside.. no errors so far

Related

GPS position locking on Androids for days

Hello everyone!
We have an fleet management app that runs continuous background updates every 1 minute using an Android service. We are seeing that sometimes the devices are failing to receive new GPS locations, and continuously report that they are at one location, when they are actually somewhere else. You can imagine this doesn't work well for a fleet management app. Rebooting the device seems to rectify the problem in the short-term. It also doesn't happen on every phone, even if they are the same model with same fw.
Any ideas? Thanks!

[XU][ZPerience][VeXU] GPS Settings

Hello,
Like some of the other users, I had GPS problems after installing these two ROMs: connecting to the satellites took a very long time, if at all. Below I describe my fix, gathered from searching on the web, including here on XDA, and by using trial-and-error testing. Hope it helps others.
Install GPS Test by Chartcross. This helps monitor the GPS activities. There are other similar apps out there, but I like this one for the purpose of monitoring the GPS.
Install FasterGPS, by Dominik Schürmann. This is to edit the file /system/etc/gps.conf. You could edit it manually, but I like the GUI of this app.
Check if your /system/etc/suplcert/cacert.txt is "MIIDazCC......neEj8Nq/", then under the advanced settings, make sure SUPL_HOST is "supl.sonyericsson.com", SUPL_PORT=7275. Each cacert corresponds to a particular SUPL server. The above cacert is for the Sony server. If the host doesn't correspond to the cert, then you will not benefit from a quick retrieval of GPS info via the internet. Instead your GPS will download the info from the satellites themselves at a very slow rate (50 b/s according to Wikipedia). Your GPS would still work, but it won't acquire a fix quickly. Sorry I don't know what the cert for Google is.
Set NTP server to something close to you. Some people suggest to enter several servers (more can't hurt), some people suggest not to do that (more does hurt, if the previous ones fail.) I imagine that, at the higher level, the ntp pool servers don't usually fail. Thus I choose a single server that is close to me. In addition, I stay at the "country" level instead of going down to the numerical prefix level. (I.e. I don't bother with 0.uk.pool.ntp.org.) I figure going down to the numerical prefix level would more likely expose me to server failures.
Set INTERMEDIATE_POS=1 (enabled), then set ACCURACY_THRES=0 (passing all positions). With this value GPS Test usually reports satellites "in view" very quickly [<= 1 sec]. [Note: "in view" not "fix".] When I set the threshold to something non-zero (even a large value like 5000), it takes several seconds to see them.
Set ENABLE_WIPER=1, which supposedly turns on wifi positioning. Not sure what that does, but sounds like it can help . I assume the GPS system reads info from the wifi to get a rough estimate position. GPS Test probably isn't affected by this, although something like Maps might.
Set REPORT_POSITION_USE_SUPL_...=1. Again this sounds like a useful thing. My trial-and-error testing didn't discover anything conclusive about this. If anyone know more, please let me know.
Set DEFAULT_AGPS_ENABLE=TRUE, DEFAULT_USER_PLANE=TRUE. These are probably already true by default, but I figure it doesn't hurt to be explicit.
Reboot your phone if you had to change the SUPL setting. I had to do this to see the change. Would love to hear your experience on this.
With the above settings, GPS Test usually reports about 10 satellites in view in about 1 sec; satellites signals popping up above 10 db in about 5 sec, and the GPS acquiring a fix with about 4 satellites in less than 30 sec. All this _inside_ my house, which is a timber frame house with tile roof. I get this even with airplane mode on, i.e. no network connection!
If I use GPS Test to download AGPS data first, then the fix could be even faster, at less than 15 sec. And once the GPS has acquired a fix then, within a short time span, it will do so again very quickly (< 5 sec). Thus I have no problem as I switch from app to app and the GPS sensor turns on and off.
If my AGPS data is several days old, I still can get a fix in about 1 min.
Still, sometimes no matter what I do, the GPS would take more than 1 min to acquire a fix. Not sure why this happens, but it usually occurs after I haven't used the GPS in a while. In those cases I might have to wait up to 5 min for a fix.
Notes:
I assume you have root (since you managed to install ROMs )
According to the official ntp pool website,
As pool.ntp.org will assign you timeservers from all over the world, time quality will not be ideal. You get a bit better result if you use the continental zones (For example europe, north-america, oceania or asia.pool.ntp.org), and even better time if you use the country zone (like ch.pool.ntp.org in Switzerland)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
More about my choice of accuracy threshold: if a threshold is active, it seems like the GPS would wait for the signal of a satellite to be of a certain strength before reporting it as in view. I figure it is better to just grab all the satellites possible, even if there is no signal yet.
The app GPS Status & Toolbox, by MobiWIA - EclipSim is also a very useful monitoring tool. I like the feature that reports how "stale" the AGPS data is. Wish GPS Test had this as well.
Toggling on the GPS from the settings menu simply allows apps to turn on the GPS. This doesn't use any battery. Only when an app starts using the sensor does it take energy. I recommend having this on. Having said that, do make sure you don't have any rogue app keeping your GPS engaged.
Install NTPSync, by Dominik Schürmann again. This helps set your clock. Not sure if this is necessary, but it gives me a good feeling that my clock is accurate
gps
its still not working
zivalarasa said:
its still not working
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After running GPS Test out in the open for, say, 1 min, does it report any "in view" satellite at all? Any satellite have signal > 10db?
GPS Test
HHest said:
After running GPS Test out in the open for, say, 1 min, does it report any "in view" satellite at all? Any satellite have signal > 10db?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
GPS test runs and doesnt find any sattellite. It ran for around 10 minz
zivalarasa said:
GPS test runs and doesnt find any sattellite. It ran for around 10 minz
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I assume you had GPS working at some point prior to installing the ROM? If you've done all the steps (particularly steps 3, 5, and very importantly 9), then I'm afraid I'm out of suggestions.
spelling?
On the off chance... perhaps you have a spelling error?
I find it quite easy to spell "sonyericsson" wrong, especially the ericsson part. Now I have a way to memorize it: "Eric" (that's easy), "Eric's" (as in something belonging to Eric), ericsson = "Eric's son"

[Tasker] Getting GPS Lock (%LOC) in Poor Conditions

Hi!
I am creating a Tasker profile that automatically logs my location when I turn off my car so that I can find where it's parked in case I forget. In general, the task works correctly if a strong GPS lock can be obtained, but in situations where a precise location is not possible, it seems that %LOC is not set, and a %LOC value is used.
My task has two main actions.
1. Get Location (Source: Any, Timeout: 15sec)
2. Variable Set (%LOC to %LocCar)
When a strong location can be obtained (in less than 15 seconds), everything is great. But in situations where a strong lock cannot be obtained (covered/underground parking), the Get Location action will timeout and I get a %LOC value that is no where near my car. Seemingly the last %LOC set. I could potentially make the GPS timeout much longer in order to give it more time to get a good lock, but by the time it does, I will have walked quite far from my car, making the task pretty useless.
The interesting thing is that if I open Google Maps, it has a pretty good idea of where I am, even in bad situations. There is a faint blue circle around my position (implying the possible inaccuracy), but it still has the blue circle centered very close to my actual location. So it seems that Android will not update %LOC unless it is very certain of its accuracy, but even an "inaccurate" location is good enough (and better than nothing). Is there a way to get Android to set %LOC even if it's unsure of its accuracy? Or can I get this information some other way? (Google Maps seems to know where to put it.)
Thanks!
You're Welcome, Me!
So you know how you ask a question out loud, and then you come up with the answer yourself? Well, I managed to do just that, which is great! I'll post my findings so others with the same issue can have a solution option that should work for them as well.
So I've been aware for a while that finding your phone's location is just as much a WiFi +cellular task as it is GPS. Google even had a snafu a few years ago where they were tracking people's WiFi network names and accidentally got some extra info out of them... Anyway, your phone looks at the nearby WiFi hotspots and cell towers to help figure out where it is. That's what the "inaccurate" location boils down to (as far as I know). And that's why you can specify during Get Loction to look at GPS, Net (WiFi+cellular), or Any. So if you choose Any, it will try both options. But %LOC is just for the GPS result. %LOCN shows the Net (WiFi+cellular) result. So if you don't get a GPS lock in time, you will likely still have a decent Net location.
So how do you know which is more accurate? There are accuracy variables, but we are actually interested in which is more recent. (If GPS was very accurate on its last lock 5 minutes ago, it still isn't as relevant as an "inaccurate" but very recent Net lock.) The time of each lock is stored in Unix Time, which is a variation of the Julian Date (a way to track time without confusion of time zones or leap years). Unix Time is basically how many seconds have passed since 00:00 Jan 1, 1970. So to figure out which is more recent, simply compare the two values. The larger is more recent, and therefore a better value. The time values are stored in %LOCTMS (GPS time) and %LOCNTMS (Net time).
My next step will be to incorporate a check to see how old each is compared to right now (%TIMES). If they are too old, then there is no point to storing them.
Hope this helps someone out!

GPS Accuracy

Does anyone else have issues with their unit (I have the T-Mobile version) mistakenly showing their location as someplace they were HOURS earlier? My maps shows the location where I currently am, but then will occasionally report my location incorrectly as where I was earlier that day, which affects my weather and traffic reporting. Any thoughts?
Do you have high accuracy enabled?
I do have high accuracy enabled. Which the phone doesn't seem to understand the definition of.
If it is showing properly when you open maps but not in other apps, then it isn't the GPS that's the issue. Those apps aren't updating properly.
Mine is off by about 20 ft or so ... no biggie.
One thought though ... do you have background data blocked for the map app?
Background data enabled. I'll use the phone to navigate from work to school. The map shows me at school. Weather and traffic based around campus. Then, maybe an hour later, I look at my phone and it gives me the weather for my office, not school. I open google maps, it looks like I'm back at work, but I'm not.
I have had this happen several times. I open a gps Waze and Google maps, for a little while at work then minmize. A few hours later I will use the gps again at a different location and the gps will flip back an forth from the previous location, this will occur 30 min away or in another state.
I have tried to just shutdown the app and restart but still occurs. My only way to clear this has been to reboot the phone. This happen on both Waze and Google maps.
I found turning location off and back on works for me, but this shouldn't happen
Joe Smithereens said:
Does anyone else have issues with their unit (I have the T-Mobile version) mistakenly showing their location as someplace they were HOURS earlier? My maps shows the location where I currently am, but then will occasionally report my location incorrectly as where I was earlier that day, which affects my weather and traffic reporting. Any thoughts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've had this issue several times. With my G6 and V30. It happens when I'm using a GPS heavy app and then go inside where a good GPS signal cannot be found or where I'm on WiFi. Oddly. I feel like it happens more if that iZat crap is active. Happens a lot with PoGo.
Also get heavy GPS drifting when in High Accuracy Mode. GPS on LG devices seems to work best in Device Only Mode.
Sent from my LG-H872 using XDA Labs
This is driving me mad. I had to switch phone due to this issue on Galaxy S7 and now it happens on V30.
Took a factory reset for mine to work again. Was fine for the entire time I've had the phone, then out of the blue, just stopped working.
Sent from my LG-H932 using Tapatalk
zsunsun said:
This is driving me mad. I had to switch phone due to this issue on Galaxy S7 and now it happens on V30.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Chiming in with "other phones have wonky GPS too": My Moto X Pure has had a couple instances where position appeared to be randomly jumping around, up to several hundred feet away with varying azimuth. Made for " fun" navigation in heavy traffic in unfamiliar cities.
But don't worry, autonomous vehicles will work without a problem. (Yeahhhhh....right....)
...
Autonomous vehicles are using a wide array of sensors to work, combine with deep learning, big data, etc. The GPS used in phones is not the same chip as the one used in a dedicated GPS device, even something as a sports watch as a much more precise GPS, optimised antenna, dedicated processor and optimised OS. I’ve been trying to use phones to track my runs for years and it always jumped around a bit. In a car, depending on the placement (direct view of the sky, for instance vs. blocked by the ceiling), on the weather, on the insulation of the car even, you can have issue with jumping signal. You can try to place the phone in a spot where the antenna has a view of the sky and it might be less of a problem.
I have noticed that the issue is with both Pokemon Go and Google maps. It is really frustrating, and sometimes nothing seems to help. On another site, they recommended installing GPs Status and Toolbox from Google play store. I will try that. If that does not help, the site said that the issue is with the GPS antenna.

Mate 10 Pro - GPS issues

Hi,
as soon as I bought this phone I am struggling with making the GPS receiver working properly in app such as Starava and Endomondo. Mate constantly drops the signal for couple of seconds. I tried different solutions such as:
apps->ignore battery optimization
manage the apps (running in the background) manually
Strava works without autopause
last used apps -> padlock is set to locked
Below you will see a compare of a proper signal (red) and Mate's (blue) with a lot of losses.
Please help as it is very annoying 'feature'.
Nobody?
Huawei Mate 10 GPS performance is poor
Cameyo said:
Nobody?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have exactly the same experience. My (new) Mate 10 Pro has far worse GPS accuracy than my (previous) Galaxy S7 Edge.
Tried many possible solutions, nothing helps. Shame on you, Huawei!! :crying:
I don't use these apps but I remember the same complaints about Mate 9. A joke that it hasn't been sorted out yet!
Mate 10 lite garbage gps
Same issues with endomondo amd my huawei mate 10 lite.... Gps loosing signal when running in the park, but no issues with gps driving applications... Instead of 3.14 km it shows me only 2 km, it is loosing signal every 5 mins.
Same thing here, bought mate 10 pro (bla-l29) 3 weeks ago and besides its great camera and other stuff, this problem with gps and strava is so annoying.
Here are two pics, first from a bike ride, with numerous spikes, and other, walking, where red line is gps track from the mate and cyan is actual track that I was walking.
I have sent a question today to the official croatian huawei forum, but I don't expect some remedy. Maybe a new Android Pie and EMUI 9,which is scheduled to arrive in my country on 14 December fixes that issue, otherwise I'm thinking on selling the thing, because I'm quite often on my bike and trekking in nature.
Edit: Since I'm a new member, can't post external links to pics, sorry.
My mate 10 works great with GPS.. In the car or walking. Even in the train..
Is GPS dropping only while the screen is off (or app in background)? If rooted, the solution is to disable the Power Genius app using either Titanium Backup or Service Disabler (and then reboot). If not rooted, you can try via ADB but I'm not sure it will work.
"Ignore Battery Optimization" affects Android's built-in battery optimization. Power Genius is responsible for Huawei's built-in battery optimization features - which don't increase your battery life but do cause issues with GPS, music playback, screen brightness, etc.
thref23 said:
Is GPS dropping only while the screen is off (or app in background)? If rooted, the solution is to disable the Power Genius app using either Titanium Backup or Service Disabler (and then reboot). If not rooted, you can try via ADB but I'm not sure it will work.
"Ignore Battery Optimization" affects Android's built-in battery optimization. Power Genius is responsible for Huawei's built-in battery optimization features - which don't increase your battery life but do cause issues with GPS, music playback, screen brightness, etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are two things which can be done, one is to manage apps manually (via battery settings) and other with that "Ignore Battery Optimization".
So you are saying both are standard android features, nothing to do with Power Genius service?
Yesterday I've allowed "Ignore Battery Optimization" for Strava, restarted the phone (as suggested on many places after this), and went for a short test ride. It seems that there are definitely less spikes than before, but still there were two of them on a 5km trip. And the GPS accuracy is still not satisfying. The screen was locked, as was always on my previous Samsung A5 and all iPhones before that.
I've tried disabling the lock screen few days before, but during walking. Half trip the screen was on, half off. I didn't notice any difference. During walking there were no spikes, but the accuracy was very bad, the track had two very strange off-paths in order of 40-50 meters.
Static accuracy of GPS is always ok, in several apps. But dinamic gps tracking is bad.
I'll try Endomondo, other app for the same purpose and post results here.
"Ignore Battery Optimization" is an Android feature.
"Launch" (manage apps manually) is an EMUI feature.
"Power Genius" is a separate EMUI feature. Amongst other things, it uses an algorithm to determine what apps and processes should be killed off when they are in the background. But it is artificial intelligence that is not intelligent - when you are streaming music, it kills processes necessary for bluetooth music playback. If you use an app like Google Maps, it gets killed off like clockwork after so many minutes in the background.
There are sometimes ways to manipulate it, i.e. I think it looks at how long a process has been running, how many apps are running in the background, whether the phone is being charged. But generally, there is no downside to disabling it if you are rooted.
I am relatively new to Huawei, Power Genius is the main reason I would never be inclined to recommend a Huawei device to a lay person who did not intend to root it, or what not.
Oh, bummer.
Well, I'll test some more, with Strava and Endomondo, and if nothing improves, I'll see whether to consider rooting, or that ADB thing, or replacing it for Samsung S8.
I don't have experience with rooting, but I jailbreaked every iPhone I had, my occupation is software developer, recently changed the firm and now beginning to develop under Android studio, so i think I could do that. But I'm afraid it could be pure GPS problem, either hardware or software, I'm not sure.
If I leave the screen on during the ride, and problems persist, can we exclude Power Genius and blame GPS receiver or code responsible for it?
The phone has a problem with the GPS, thats for sure. Even after the Pie update, nothing changed. I personally had no issues with killing apps, but overall GPS accuracy is very poor. For example, Im walking down the road on a left sidewalk, google maps says Im on the right side of the road. Thats about 10 meters away ! And in a open space with no obsticles. Definitely a HW issue

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