The difference between standard GPS and A-GPS
June 25, 2007 by Dario Soltani
One of the big news in the new Nokia N95 firmware seems to be the added A-GPS (also known as assisted GPS) feature, which basically “is a technology that uses an assistance server to cut down the time needed to determine a location using GPS. It is useful in urban areas, when the user is located in ‘urban canyons’, under heavy tree cover, or even indoors.”
Yes it’s an ugly drawing but you get the picture huh?
What does this mean? Well a standard GPS like the one you have in your car, boat or even in your Nokia N95 (with todays firmware) need to synchronize with at least 3 satellites to calculate your position (yes it’s simple math; Pythagoras theorem anyone?). They also need a clear line-of-sight, which basically means no GPS positioning indoors, in tunnels and sometimes not even in your car (if your GPS device isn’t positioned very near a window).
The Nokia A-GPS system uses an assistance server (Mobile Location Server) via your cellular network. The server either knows or learns the position of your closest cell phone tower and uses this to calculate your exact position. The server has more processor power than your cellphone/GPS and thus makes the calculations faster. The tower positions are also stored in a database for future use making everything work faster and smoother as the system learns new tower positions. This also enables you to use your GPS device indoors.
[...] A-GPS support included (quicker at receiving and locking GPS signals) [...]
[...] what some bloggers have speculated, AGPS does not use cellphone network based positioning. Hey, you all [...]
Nokia N95 update is a GO!…
The long awaited firmware update (v12.0.013) to the Nokia N95 phone has arrived, installed and tested by several.
You can get it HERE at Nokia
Only looking to the GPS part of this update, the reactions are quite positive overall. I don’t own a N…
[...] A-GPS support included (quicker at receiving and locking GPS signals) Enable using Tools > Settings > General > Positioning > Positioning Server & define the access point you want. [...]
[...] up and it seems we’re looking at some major upgrades. Some new features have been added, like the A-GPS I wrote about earlier, but also the new HSDPA (3.5G) indicator on the top left corner, as well as some improvements on [...]
when you install new crappy software it wont let you reinstall tomtom. be careful. if anyone knows how to bypass this, I would be most grateful, or indeed how to get it back to version 11. thanks
the GPS is complely free …,but how about the A-GPS?
the A-GPS consumes data traffic, if your carrier charges you for data traffic you’ll have to pay some for the a-gps functionality.
[...] Little more on this subject: N Series WOM World Nokia Discussion Board Simply Symbian tells how A-GPS works [...]
most of the peoples using the GPS in the world, so this option much better in the mobile