I bought this Tracfone package that includes “1200 MB” of data, counted separately from minutes and from a text limit. It will also work with WiFi so I don’t have to use up my data allotment at home.or work.
I have a particular interest in the data limit in relation to navigation programs, which might involve staying hooked up through the 3G network for extended periods.
As I understand it, my phone has a GPS unit and I don’t need an internet connection to know my coordinates. But on the couple of apps I’ve tried, I do need a connection to render a map and place me on it.
A few questions here:
Am I getting anything wrong so far?
If I use one of these apps and have no other exchanges over the network, what would the traffic volume be? IOW can you guesstimate how many MB per minute/hour/whatever an exchange like this would take?
Is there an Android app that doesn’t need this kind of real time exchange? For instance, one that allows me to periodically update and save locally the map as desired, and then
map the gps coordinates on it with no further network connection?
When it comes to data usage, you aren’t going to get any hard numbers. How much data gets used is dependent on a lot of factors, such as the signal strength and how efficiently the map app serves the data to you.
This doesn’t fit your situation directly, but I can say that painting with a very, very wide brush, an iPhone using the Apple Maps app will use about 500K on a 20-30 minute drive. Roughly. Some more anecdotal data- most of the people I’ve asked about their usage (those who actually use it frequently, whether for walking/driving directions including turn-by-turn directions, using it to search for businesses, checking traffic conditions, etc) indicates an average data rate of about 1-2 MB per day.
Again, that’s not necessarily going to be your experience, but it’s a start.
I’m pretty sure Google Maps for Android allows you to download city maps for offline usage. I don’t know how that translates to actual data usage when using it, though. If you are really concerned about data usage, 2 things to do are- research whichever map app you decide to choose for what other users say about its data usage and then, if your phone has a data meter function, let it track you the next time you’re the wheelman in a bank heist getaway to see for yourself how much data the app actually used. Then pick whichever one makes you happiest.
Smartphones do have GPS receiver antennas in them, but they will also use cellular data (distance to cell towers etc.) to triangulate their location as well. They are usually set to use both unless you specifically turn cellular data for the GPS app off.
I use Google’s Maps app on my phone regularly. I checked the last five months of data and I used 66 MB from this app one month. That was unusual. It included a long weekend in NYC where I was checking locations and businesses and public transportation routes frequently.
I’m not sure when those data are transferred. I.e. is the bulk right when I’m calculating the route or constantly as I’m moving about.
I can only speak about the Google Maps app, but in my phone’s settings - data usage - apps - I can set a data limit for Maps, so it alerts me if I reach a certain limit I set within a billing period. Checking what I used last month, I was at 71MB. I consider myself a light user, occasionally popping into Maps to check transit time estimates and a basic route plan for places I’m unfamiliar with. It would be a whole lot more for turn by turn trips, if the battery drain is any indication. I only use that a few times a year.
With Google Maps you can download maps for offline use but they automatically delete in 30 days. You can’t search or set a destination without an internet connection – although you can set a destination while on Wi-Fi and then begin to navigate, hoping nothing goes kerfluey during the trip. I’m pretty sure navigation with Google Maps is still considered to be a beta app.
I’ve tried lots of GPS navigation apps and HERE, mentioned by yoyodyne is the clear winner; you can download maps by state or by country any time you want, you can search and navigate without an internet connection, it works well, it is completely free and does not have any ads or nags or in-app purchases. Highly recommended.
I used Waze to navigate between Buffalo, NY and Washington DC last week. The trip was almost exactly 400 miles. I don’t usually use Waze locally but it’s possible that I may also have used it for one or two shorter trips around town. Over the month that included the Buffalo-DC trip, I used 22.39 MB of data.
Anyway, I use Waze to navigate to and from work every day (~1 hr a day), as there are several valid routes, and Waze does a stellar job routing me around traffic jams and the like.
In the current billing cycle, which ends tomorrow, Waze has used 26.40 mb. So pretty much trivial data usage.
That doesn’t count against your data though; they just use the signals for triangulation, and are reasonably accurate, although with GPS thrown in, you’re usually good to within a 10 foot circle.
Probably the most “chattery” use of the data pipe in smartphone-based navigation applications is geocoding: your phone connects intermittently (or frequently) over wifi or mobile data to a geocoding service, like Google’s, asking “I’m at these coordinates. Where is that?” and the geocoding service responds with a string of information as specific as an approximate street address.
This happens even if you’re not looking at a mapping service, which might further download chunks of map graphics to put your pipper on top of.
Since my smartphone’s “car mode” home screen includes a live update of geocoding information (based on current GPS-based geolocation), I expect I’m hitting the geocoding service every few seconds, since the address display at the top of the car mode app is usually accurate to within 1/2 block even at in-town street speeds (30-50 mph).
ETA: You probably won’t bust a data limit with just geocoding chatter. They’re pretty small queries and responses. Even happening frequently, it probably wouldn’t add up to that much.
Thanks, I’m going to give this a shot. I’ve already found that the map of the US won’t fit on my phone because for some reason it has to be saved to the on-board memory and can’t be saved on the 32gb micro SD chip.
But I can get around that by downloading state by state maps useful for a particular trip
Oh, sure- I just meant that a lot of phones can use the actual cell signals and wi-fi signals for location triangulation. It’s not quite as accurate as GPS, but it doesn’t require so much power either. I suspect it’s a matter of comparing signal strengths from known cell towers/wi-fi networks and calculating the distance accordingly. That’s probably not data-intensive, although there’s got to be some kind of mechanism for identifying the actual coordinates of any given tower or wi-fi network.
This turns out to be wrong. I can’t set the program to load on my chip using the phone’s Settings option, I can do so using the settings within the HERE program.
Have a regular GPS in every car, people are always giving old ones away or for $20 or something.
For everyday driving, out of date maps are just fine.
If you live in brand new places in brand new subdivisions and all destinations are in brand new places & not on the latest Google Earth shot you could check before you leave, you are just going to have to spend $$$ & have the latest greatest gadgets. Nothing wrong with that.
I had been using a fixed car GPS for travel, but I’ve found my phone app’s updated traffic information and automatic rerouting has saved me a lot of time. DC traffic being what it is, I have three options for leaving the district for central VA. Total travel time can vary from 2.5-4.5h. I don’t even have to check online on listen to the radio reports any more to make sure I’m on the faster route.
DISCLAIMER: I am not expressing an opinion, only mentioning that this is a thing.
Some people in residential neighborhoods are complaining that GPS systems with live traffic rerouting are sending many cars into their once quiet streets. Looks like it could become somewhat of a political football.
