Are there plans to add the location relative to nearest tower to Live Search?  Today I use one app for positioning and LiveSearch to get information and directions due to its easier interface.

hvbelton@usa.net:

Are there plans to add the location relative to nearest tower to Live Search?  Today I use one app for positioning and LiveSearch to get information and directions due to its easier interface.

 

what are you talking about cell phone triangulation, similar to what google maps does?, yeah that would be an awesome feature to include, however, I believe they already do use it, since my phone PPC-6800 Sprint Mogul, keep a GPS connection active when I go inside the house.  Are you referring to a phone without the gps or A-Gps radio in it?[

Yes, that's what I was talking about.  Didn't want to mention the "G" word

From what I've seen of the cell-tower positioning feature, it can give you a general vicinity (within a thousand meters or so), but isn't really designed for navigation like GPS is.  So it seems like for actual turn-by-turn navigation with Live Search and some of the other apps, you're always going to need some kind of GPS receiver. Are there any cell-tower-only positioning apps out there that are accurate enough for true turn-by-turn? 

I wouldn't use the cell phone triangulation feature for navigation per-se, but it is very helpful if you want to quickly bring up the traffic map or search for the closest whatever (restaurant, gas station, etc.)...  WITHOUT having to go outside and wait for the GPS to aquire a fix.  It does make calculating directions from your current indoor (no GPS fix available) location to another destination much easier.  When you get outside and do have an accurate GPS fix, the real navigation can begin.

Another problem with the Live Search is that when you are outside and have a GPS fix and want to search for something nearby, you have to: Choose a new Location> then tap "Current GPS Position" and it makes you save that position as a location preset even though the next time you want to search around your GPS position, you may be in a different place.

Even if you're on the map and choose "Search near here" you have to enter a name for the location and then it's saved in your location list.  I'd much rather just be able to "Search near here" without having to name my location.

Bill Fisher:

So it seems like for actual turn-by-turn navigation with Live Search and some of the other apps, you're always going to need some kind of GPS receiver

 

I have a bluetooth GPS reciever on the way. Any tips on using this that I should know for Live Search or is it just going to be simple to do? I am really looking forward to using this.

I've used a CoPilot GPS receiver with Live Search, and it works perfectly, although there are a few setup steps involved. You'll have to go into Settings > Bluetooth and add the GPS device, of course, and then you'll need to check the COM port assigned to the GPS device. Then, you'll need to open up Live Search and set the appropriate COM port in the application settings. After that, it should just work! Live Search will start giving you the option of using GPS location for starting point on a route, searching for POI, etc. It's very cool.

Bill Fisher:

I've used a CoPilot GPS receiver with Live Search, and it works perfectly, although there are a few setup steps involved. You'll have to go into Settings > Bluetooth and add the GPS device, of course, and then you'll need to check the COM port assigned to the GPS device. Then, you'll need to open up Live Search and set the appropriate COM port in the application settings. After that, it should just work! Live Search will start giving you the option of using GPS location for starting point on a route, searching for POI, etc. It's very cool.

You could also set the COM port in the Start>Settings>System> GPS control panel (if you have Windows Mobile 6+).  Live Search will read the COM port from there.  The advantage to setting it in the control panel is that other GPS navigation programs are also able to use the GPS at the same time (theoretically).  Kind of a minor thing, but notable none-the-less.

EDIT:  That's on Windows Mobile Professional style.  I don't remember if there's a GPS control panel on Standard edition.

Thanks, Adam - forgot about that - I think I was using a device that didn't have the GPS control panel. Or else I wasn't able to make it work correctly - user error, no doubt!

Thanks for the help guys. Hey one more question if I may. In control panel I have the GPS control panel. How do I know what COM port to use for sure?

When you pair your Bluetooth GPS device you get the opportunity to setup a new COM port for the device. COM6 is what I used to use (before my devices had integrated GPS).