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I use a Samsung S21 phone. If I open the web page OpenStreetMap.org in Chrome and select Show My Location, the position shown is roughly 1000 m away from where I actually am. The marked position is surrounded by a blue circle and when I touch the centre it says 'You are within 2000 m of this point'. Presumably this blue circle is 4000m in diameter and indicates that my position can't be accurately located.

My Location Service is turned on and GPS works fine in Google Maps and other similar mapping apps. To add insult to injury, my wife has a Samsung S8 and OpenStreetMaps.org positions her accurately within a few metres. Is there a setting somewhere that I'm missing?

When I use my desktop computer, the Show My Location position is a bit more accurate (within 750 m) and my desktop has no GPS!

asked 02 Nov '22, 00:15

WG50's gravatar image

WG50
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2

Are you just using the website? This sounds like it's probably more of a phone issue than an OSM issue.

(02 Nov '22, 07:46) InsertUser

Are you sure that your GPS is working correctly? You can't check that with Google Maps since it also uses various network services to locate you. Check the GPS functionality of your device with other apps such as GPSTest or SatStat.

(02 Nov '22, 08:17) scai ♦

I've stumbled on the answer! As noted by InsertUser it was a phone (and specifically Android 12) issue and not an OSM issue. I had previously checked that Chrome had permission to use my geolocation and that 'Use Precise Location' was enabled. As an experiment, I disabled 'Use Precise Location' then re-enabled it and the problem was solved!

The reason my wife's phone didn't have the same problem is that it uses Android 9 which doesn't have an option to turn precise location on and off for each app. In Android 9 geolocation in Chrome (and presumably in all apps) is either enabled or disabled with no option for selecting precise or approximate positioning.

I have no idea why disabling then re-enabling 'Use Precise Location' kicked it into action but it did.

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answered 02 Nov '22, 20:40

WG50's gravatar image

WG50
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accept rate: 100%

I've accepted your answer for you - hope you don't mind.

(02 Nov '22, 21:14) SomeoneElse ♦

No problem. I'm new to this and didn't realise I had to accept the answer. Actually I can't see where to do that either?

(02 Nov '22, 21:38) WG50

You can't accept your own answer; that's why I did it.

(02 Nov '22, 21:52) SomeoneElse ♦

I think much like if you opened up your maps app straight away, location services will give you an approximate initial location based on wifi location, bluetooth, cell triangulation, before gps kicks in and gives you a much more accurate location.

The first location you are getting is probably one of the more initial location methods. Which has the parking lot as that location.

It takes GPS some time to get a fix, so at least to cover this delay apple use other methods to get a near instant coarse location.

In fact if you say your friend is in the building they may not even get a GPS fix depending on how the building is constructed and how well the GPS signals will get into the buildi

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answered 03 Nov '22, 06:11

nakaru87's gravatar image

nakaru87
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Sorry nakaru87, your answer makes no sense to me. The geolocation that was indicated on the openstreetmap.org web page didn't change with time - it remained a 'coarse' or approximate location even though 'Use Precise Location' (an Android setting) appeared to be enabled for Chrome. Turning 'Use Precise Location' off then on again fixed my problem and my geolocation now shows correctly on openstreetmap.org

(03 Nov '22, 07:08) WG50

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question asked: 02 Nov '22, 00:15

question was seen: 1,021 times

last updated: 03 Nov '22, 07:08

NOTICE: help.openstreetmap.org is no longer in use from 1st March 2024. Please use the OpenStreetMap Community Forum