If there are two apps that I use a lot and that are a constant on my phone, they are Google Maps and Waze. I use the former mostly when I’m walking, while the latter is my favorite navigation app when driving, both with and without Android Auto. But while the user experience is good, GPS location is not as accurate as it should be. Or rather, it could be better.

Yes, the figure eight trick is an important one that I do from time to time to get the phone to accurately show me where I’m going, but what I was missing was that the marker should be as close as possible to my actual location, rather than several tens (or even hundreds) of meters away. The solution was quicker and easier than I thought: change this setting and increase GPS accuracy.

How to improve GPS location accuracy?

Problem. Surely it has happened to you at some point: You open the Google Maps or Waze app and the little dot that shows your location does not match the reality. Yes, I tried closing and reopening the app, being patient and waiting a few minutes or moving around, especially outdoors.

On Android mobile phone the solution is to enable the ‘option’Google Location Accuracy‘ simply by sliding the toggle button. To do this, we go to mobile settings and follow the following route: ‘Location‘ > ‘Location services‘.

In this way, the integrated GPS not only uses the satellite system, but also uses sensors and Wi-Fi networks to help Improve accuracy by periodically saving data for use when needed. This makes the experience much better when opening navigation apps.

Cover | Javier Papaz (Xataka)

via | Hypertextual

Xataka on Android | Google Maps in detail: a guide with 38 tricks to take advantage of all its functions