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> If you are in the NYC area for example, the GPS just really struggles between all the buildings. What phone are you using? In a decade of living in Manhatta
by chimeracoder 8y ago
> If you are in the NYC area for example, the GPS just really struggles between all the buildings.
What phone are you using?
In a decade of living in Manhattan, I've never had any issue like this. The location services on my phone (Pixel 2 XL) and every Android phone I've ever used have been spot on.
- ReverseCold 8y agoGoogle and Apple do some tricks based on WiFi to fix GPS in dense urban areas. Raw gps is basically unusable in these areas.
- _jal 8y agoI don't think too many Uber drivers are running their gigs on GlobalSats dangling from Arduinos. They tend to have phones.
- chimeracoder 8y ago> Google and Apple do some tricks based on WiFi to fix GPS in dense urban areas. Raw gps is basically unusable in these areas. Location Services doesn't just use raw GPS, no, but that's what most drivers (and passengers) are using. In any case, for several years, I only used the device GPS (instead of the full location services), and I never had any issues like what OP is describing.
- always_good 8y agoSince you have to set a pickup pin explicitly, how does GPS matter at all, here?
- d4l3k 8y agoDrivers sometimes go to where the live GPS signal tells them you are instead of the pin. Likewise the pin is sometimes required to be in dumb spots (like the airport) even when there's a much more convenient spot 100 feet down the street.
- smt88 8y agoIn my experience, the location I choose is often lost in translation between my Uber app and the driver's maps app. Sometimes the difference is egregious.
- rayiner 8y agoUber is nuts for letting drivers use their own maps app.
- smt88 8y agoI was careful not to say "third-party" maps app. They may have been making excuses for their own mistakes, but drivers have told me that sometimes the built-in Uber maps also get the wrong location. I have no idea if that's true and have always been confused about whether the driver app even has maps built into it.
- Semaphor 8y agoI had that problem a lot in South Africa. We'd set a pickup spot exactly where we want it, drivers told me the uber app shows them the last location I was at instead.
- CPLX 8y agoYeah no. The Uber native maps app is almost invariably incorrect, at least here in Brooklyn. It does insane stuff like trying to put you on the BQE (interstate) to go like 800 yards or route you from Brooklyn to Brooklyn by transiting Manhattan and two bridges. Until they figure out how to fix that they pretty much need to let drivers flip over to Waze or something.
- 88 8y agoDon't forget the best route for Uber is not necessarily the shortest or quickest.
- maxerickson 8y agoUber has also put quite some effort into better location on Android: https://eng.uber.com/rethinking-gps/ https://eng.uber.com/rethinking-gps/
- chrisabrams 8y agoiPhones, model hasn't mattered. Flat Iron + GPS = location lottery for me anytime of the day.
- chimeracoder 8y ago> iPhones, model hasn't mattered. Flat Iron + GPS = location lottery for me anytime of the day. That's unfortunate. As I said, every Android phone I had has been spot on everywhere in the city.
- schrodinger 8y agoSame with me for my iPhone after a decade in the city (iPhone didn’t even have gps when I first got here). Wonder why they’re having such a problem?