How do offline maps work with no signal?

[mobster011]

I'm going to be taking a road trip through Canada and want to use my 1520 without using data. I know I can download maps but I've never actually done this. How does it work if you're not connected to a network? How does it accurately pick up your position?

 

[Loco5150]

Phone uses the GPS satellites alone. Think car navigators, they dont have signal.

 

[SB5]

Phone uses the GPS satellites alone. Think car navigators, they dont have signal.

Yup this and also I've been using offline maps for a while and it truly is awesome, you can search for mostly any food place and other points of interest even when you are offline.

 

[Citizen X]

I'm going to be taking a road trip through Canada and want to use my 1520 without using data. I know I can download maps but I've never actually done this. How does it work if you're not connected to a network? How does it accurately pick up your position?

The phone will connect to the cell towers. Which is good and bad. It is good because I think GPS works better when it is getting a signal from towers as well as satellites but it also means you will receive text messages even if data is turned off... and of course you will be charged an exorbitant rate for each text. No way around that... that I know of. I got burned with that in Europe. You can't put the phone in airplane mode.

The other issue is if you are searching for a location your phone may not be able to locate it in its onboard database. I've encountered that. The solution is to search for your destination while in a wifi zone and then save it as a favorite. It will then have the address when you are outside of the wifi zone. Also check traffic data in a wifi zone before you depart. The traffic data won't be updated once you are on the road but it at least lets you do a little planning.

Now that I think about it I guess you could remove your sim chip. Not sure how that affects GPS. Should solve the text message problem though. Actually you could test that out at home before your trip.

 

[Kevin Rush]

The phone will connect to the cell towers. Which is good and bad. It is good because I think GPS works better when it is getting a signal from towers as well as satellites but it also means you will receive text messages even if data is turned off... and of course you will be charged an exorbitant rate for each text. No way around that... that I know of. I got burned with that in Europe. You can't put the phone in airplane mode.

The other issue is if you are searching for a location your phone may not be able to locate it in its onboard database. I've encountered that. The solution is to search for your destination while in a wifi zone and then save it as a favorite. It will then have the address when you are outside of the wifi zone. Also check traffic data in a wifi zone before you depart. The traffic data won't be updated once you are on the road but it at least lets you do a little planning.

Now that I think about it I guess you could remove your sim chip. Not sure how that affects GPS. Should solve the text message problem though. Actually you could test that out at home before your trip.

I disagree with most of what is said above.

It depends on what App you are using, to determine how your experience will be. For Nokia Drive+ and Navigon, you have to go to the map manager and download the maps for the area of travel, onto your device. For instance, Minnesota and Wisconsin in the USA. The software apps for Navigon and Nokia don't use cell towers to navigate, they use GPS satellites. (So you lose signal while in tunnels.) Text messages are a separate topic unrelated to voice navigation apps, at least in my many experiences. The "voice navigation" works when there are no cell towers (no data, no texts, no voice calls.)

 

[dby2011]

Just came back from a trip to Canada. I downloaded the Canada maps, put my phone in airplane mode and Here Drive worked great with just using the GPS in the phone.

 

[Citizen X]

I disagree with most of what is said above.

It depends on what App you are using, to determine how your experience will be. For Nokia Drive+ and Navigon, you have to go to the map manager and download the maps for the area of travel, onto your device. For instance, Minnesota and Wisconsin in the USA. The software apps for Navigon and Nokia don't use cell towers, they use GPS satellites. (So you lose signal while in tunnels.) Text messages are a separate topic unrelated to voice navigation apps, at least in my many experiences. The "voice navigation" works when there are no cell towers (no data, no texts, no voice calls.)

Reread my post. I am speaking from experience. I used Nokia Drive+. When I did a search with no data connection it asked "search offline." I said yes. Most of the time it could find what I was looking for. But if whatever search term I used didn't get a correct hit on the downloaded map you were SOL if you were searching offline. If I searched for "Burger Shack" in Berlin and it is not in the downloaded database it won't find it. If "Burger Shack" is located at 10 Oranienburger Strasse Nokia Drive+ in offline mode won't know, if it's not in the offline database. If you ask it to go to 10 Oranienburger Strasse it will do that no problem. It won't know what is there but it can easily get you to the address. Understand? That situation happened the minority of the time. But search by park, business, school, name offline was more hit or miss than online. Address searches I didn't encounter any issues.

As far as the GPS thing I am not an engineer and I am far more unsure about that than the offline search. The Nokia 1520 has A-GPS that does use cell towers. Whether it works with the data connection on or not I don't know. My data connection was always off. But I was in a flat non mountainous area with a clear view of the sky. Not the best test. So I should make that clear. Do not take what I wrote about that as the gospel.

The search thing though was something I've encountered on multiple occasions. I have a 32 GB phone with 64 GB microSD card... In other words I have plenty of offline maps installed and still encountered issues occasionally when using Nokia Drive+. Anyway it is easily circumnavigated by doing searches in wifi hotspots.

 

[Citizen X]

From nokia...

Your phone shows your location on the map using GPS, GLONASS, A-GPS, Wi-Fi, or network (Cell ID) based positioning.

The availability, accuracy and completeness of the location info depend on, for example, your location, surroundings, and third party sources, and may be limited. Location info may not be available, for example, inside buildings or underground. For privacy info related to positioning methods, see the Nokia Privacy Policy.

The Assisted GPS (A-GPS) network service and other similar enhancements to GPS and Glonass retrieve location info using the cellular network, and assists in calculating your current location.

A-GPS and other enhancements to GPS and GLONASS may require transferring small amounts of data over the cellular network. If you want to avoid data costs, for example when traveling, you can switch the mobile data connection off in your phone settings.

Wi-Fi positioning improves positioning accuracy when satellite signals are not available, especially when you are indoors or between tall buildings. If you're in a place where the use of Wi-Fi is restricted, you can switch Wi-Fi off in your phone settings.

Using Wi-Fi may be restricted in some countries. For example, in the EU, you are only allowed to use 5150–5350 MHz Wi-Fi indoors, and in the USA and Canada, you are only allowed to use 5.15–5.25 GHz Wi-Fi indoors. For more info, contact your local authorities.

The trip meter may not be accurate, depending on the availability and quality of your satellite connection.

Nokia Lumia 1520 - Positioning methods - User Guide - Nokia - USA

So maybe A-GPS works without a data connection or maybe not. I don't know.

Wifi thing is interesting as well.

 

[Citizen X]

By the way I am not sure why I thought GPS wouldn't work in airplane mode. It apparently does. I can't remember what happened on my trip that got me in the habit of just turning data off. Good to know. I got charged a couple of dollars for a handful of texts but all the same I will be glad to avoid giving at&t money for nothing.

I was just thinking about what all I did on the trip and another thought occurred to me. When I got the phone I set it to "no roaming data." That is something else someone can do if they want to be doubly sure they don't get roaming charges for data.

 

[mobster011]

Just came back from a trip to Canada. I downloaded the Canada maps, put my phone in airplane mode and Here Drive worked great with just using the GPS in the phone.

Thank you all for your responses so far. This post looks to have done exactly what I was hoping I could do.

So if I set my phone in airplane mode and download the Canada map, voice navigation through Here+ won't be an issue. I can search for points of interest as long as it's in the database of the Canada maps. I would NOT receive any calls or texts and not use voice or data. To access the internet, I would need to turn on WiFi and find a hotspot.

Does this sound correct? Am I missing anything that might of interest or concern?

 

[Sam_oslo]

The phone will connect to the cell towers. Which is good and bad. It is good because I think GPS works better when it is getting a signal from towers as well as satellites but it also means you will receive text messages even if data is turned off... .

I have downloaded my local map for entire Norway, and tried it by turning off all connections (both data-connection and WIFI off), but HERE Maps and HERE Drive+ tend to keep searching for my current location. Some times it can't find it until I turn on a connection. The same happened when I searched for addresses. Sometimes it can find the location without any connation, but not always.

By reading comments that people can navigate without data connection, I'm wondering if it's related to some local maps, maybe segments of that map is missing something?.

 

[hprvez]

Airplane mode disables all tramitting antennas, so gps remains functional. A-gps uses data to help getting a gps position FASTER. Anyway with 8.1 dp the gps performance is decreased, so assisted gps becomes very usefull, wifi assisted gps never worked, since it's introduction.

Edit:
Depending on your location, downloaded maps may be more or less accurate, this changes the usefullness of offline maps, the data is from the provider navteq (owned by Nokia) it's maps are the best in the world, they are in garmin devices and i believe all oem car navigation Systems. But they do not cover every country with the same accuracy.

 

[dby2011]

Thank you all for your responses so far. This post looks to have done exactly what I was hoping I could do.

So if I set my phone in airplane mode and download the Canada map, voice navigation through Here+ won't be an issue. I can search for points of interest as long as it's in the database of the Canada maps. I would NOT receive any calls or texts and not use voice or data. To access the internet, I would need to turn on WiFi and find a hotspot.

Does this sound correct? Am I missing anything that might of interest or concern?

Yep, everything worked fine for me. Roaming rates in Canada are kind of expensive so it worked great. The only thing that came up was a notice that I could not get any traffic info since data was turned off. All the addresses I typed in and my searches worked fine in offline mode. It found everything for me. Also, It was fast and there was very little delay, even if I missed a turn and it had to reroute. Just turn on airplane mode and you should be fine as long as you have the maps loaded on your phone. BTW I am using a Lumia 822.

 

[DL Durand]

On a 920 & 1520: Downloaded maps. Airplane mode on. No SIM in the 920. Here Drive works great for directions and always has my location. The suggestion above about searching a specific address or business prior to going offline is good.

 

[Coreldan]

Like others have said, it will work jus like every car navigator does. What data connection does though is that it makes pinpointing your location MUCH faster in most scenarios.

 

[TechFreak1]

Reread my post. I am speaking from experience. I used Nokia Drive+. When I did a search with no data connection it asked "search offline." I said yes. Most of the time it could find what I was looking for. But if whatever search term I used didn't get a correct hit on the downloaded map you were SOL if you were searching offline. If I searched for "Burger Shack" in Berlin and it is not in the downloaded database it won't find it. If "Burger Shack" is located at 10 Oranienburger Strasse Nokia Drive+ in offline mode won't know, if it's not in the offline database. If you ask it to go to 10 Oranienburger Strasse it will do that no problem. It won't know what is there but it can easily get you to the address. Understand? That situation happened the minority of the time. But search by park, business, school, name offline was more hit or miss than online. Address searches I didn't encounter any issues.

As far as the GPS thing I am not an engineer and I am far more unsure about that than the offline search. The Nokia 1520 has A-GPS that does use cell towers. Whether it works with the data connection on or not I don't know. My data connection was always off. But I was in a flat non mountainous area with a clear view of the sky. Not the best test. So I should make that clear. Do not take what I wrote about that as the gospel.

The search thing though was something I've encountered on multiple occasions. I have a 32 GB phone with 64 GB microSD card... In other words I have plenty of offline maps installed and still encountered issues occasionally when using Nokia Drive+. Anyway it is easily circumnavigated by doing searches in wifi hotspots.

I concur with this, recently I had to go out of town for work doing some deliveries for a relatives restaurant so I thought it would be a good time to test out offline maps and here drive on WP 8.1 DP and unfortunately it completely let me down, I had to use cellular data to find the addresses or streets. So yes if it is not in the offline database... you are screwed or if its bugged out... you are screwed lol.

Also the accuracy in here maps was way off, put in me several streets away from where I was physically. Had to use the local landmarks and use the to + from directional searches. Seriously disappointed...never the less everyone's experience will vary.

 

[Sam_oslo]

Airplane mode seams to be the key here!

I tested again, by turning off all connections (both data-connection and WIFI off), but this time in Airplane mode, and both HERE Maps and HERE Drive+ worked flawlessly.

 

[basford1]

Nokia Lumia 1520 has Integrated GPS & antenna and I have used this particular combo in Offline mode in both Morocco and Vietnam and achieved very good results. The quad core CPU handles Offline routing and voice TBT naviagtion extremely well. Here are some tips:
Tip 1:The battery burn from using nav means you need to invest 10USD in a 12V<->mini-USB charging cable. This will keep your 1520 buzzing as you take the Trans Canada! No pprobs.
Tip 2: I use TBT audio from the excellent 1520 speakers and only need glance at the display at approaching changes like intersections or roundabouts. If you need to view the display often then suggest getting a holder that locks into the air vents, another 10USD.
Tip 3: Your downloaded maps are saved to phone memory and as a rule of thumb I suggest you keep your maps <10GB. But so what, you can have All Canada (1,317GB) and All USA (3,125GB) without any problems.
Tip 4: Download your maps using a strong WiFi link >5Mbps