I missed the original discussion, but Google Mobile Maps is able to display your location on your phone, using GSM triangulation if a GPS receiver is not available. Not always accurate, but it does display the uncertainty and show a circle around the location to indicate how far wrong it might be.
Google manages a similar trick when the phone is getting its data via WiFi - I don't know whether this uses the location of the hotspot, or whether it can still read the GSM triangulation data from the phone. In London with lots of transmitter masts it can be accurate enough to tell you which road junction you are at, but in a poor signal area near a canal it might only be good enough to tell you where the solitary mast is located. (It will tell you that you are at the mast, and then you scroll around to find where you really are, and now you know which direction to wave your phone to get a better signal.) Dave Wedd. 2008/11/25 Peter Stockdale <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > --- In [email protected], "Graham Keens" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > wrote: >> >> Peter asked " how can one access this "timing advance facility" - >> accuracy not being of much importance. " >> >> Unfortunately YOU cannot. It is a system used by the network to > ensure >> that the noughts and ones making up the signal arrive at the handset >> at the correct time to be decoded with minimum errors. Their >> transmission is advanced the further you are away from the cell site >> to allow for a longer delay as they rush through space. >> The Network operators are able to view the settings on the cell you >> are using and the others your mobile can see therefore allowing them >> to triangulate and locate the mobile. They do sell the service to >> accredited companies who use them to provide location finding > services >> to worried parents, policemen etc. >> If your old Diga had an engineering mode then you might have been > able >> to view the setting for your current cell. >> > > Thanks for your trouble explaining things. > Seems I shall have to become a worried parent or unlock my old Diga. > > Regards > Pete
