Photo: Google
When it works, Google Maps is a super-advanced tool, especially when it comes to navigation, both on the head unit in a car and on the phone.
But when it doesn’t, Google Maps easily becomes an app to avoid, simply because a small thing like a GPS error could end up providing you with inaccurate directions in the middle of the drive.
GPS problems in Google Maps are nothing new, and they’ve actually been around for a long time. But someone has recently revealed that the app determined their location in Russia when, in fact, they live in another country.
At this point, this doesn’t seem to be a widespread problem, but interestingly enough, Google has already responded to the report to say it’s investigating. While this could suggest that the search giant is aware of this behavior happening for others too, the information that we have right now is extremely limited.
Oddly enough, the user reporting this Google Maps behavior on Google’s forums claims Waze is working correctly and is able to determine their location properly. Google Maps (and as it turns out, other non-navigation apps too) thinks they are in Russia, though they are able to figure out the destination address just fine.
The good news is that Google is investigating the problem, but it remains to be seen if a fix is coming or not.
“Thanks for reporting this issue. We've forwarded your issue to the rest of the team. We'll reach out to you if we need more information. Thanks!” a Google Community Specialist said.
Worth emphasizing is that this problem might not necessarily be caused by Google Maps itself, and the living proof in this regard is the simple fact that other apps also determine an inaccurate location on the map. So what could help in this regard is downloading a dedicated GPS app from the Google Play Store and trying to recalibrate the GPS sensor.
More information on how to deal with GPS issues on Android is available here.
GPS problems in Google Maps are nothing new, and they’ve actually been around for a long time. But someone has recently revealed that the app determined their location in Russia when, in fact, they live in another country.
At this point, this doesn’t seem to be a widespread problem, but interestingly enough, Google has already responded to the report to say it’s investigating. While this could suggest that the search giant is aware of this behavior happening for others too, the information that we have right now is extremely limited.
Oddly enough, the user reporting this Google Maps behavior on Google’s forums claims Waze is working correctly and is able to determine their location properly. Google Maps (and as it turns out, other non-navigation apps too) thinks they are in Russia, though they are able to figure out the destination address just fine.
The good news is that Google is investigating the problem, but it remains to be seen if a fix is coming or not.
“Thanks for reporting this issue. We've forwarded your issue to the rest of the team. We'll reach out to you if we need more information. Thanks!” a Google Community Specialist said.
Worth emphasizing is that this problem might not necessarily be caused by Google Maps itself, and the living proof in this regard is the simple fact that other apps also determine an inaccurate location on the map. So what could help in this regard is downloading a dedicated GPS app from the Google Play Store and trying to recalibrate the GPS sensor.
More information on how to deal with GPS issues on Android is available here.
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