Trouble with coordinates

[+Cornish geo fairies]

I'm having problem getting accurate coordinates with my iPhone 5C can anyone give me advise on the best app to use ?.

[+cerberus1]

No app is gonna make things more "accurate" than the GPS already is in your phone.

By year mostly these days, some phones are just more accurate than others.

[+cerberus1]

Maybe a waypoint averaging app could help a bit.

This is one. Not sure how good it is, but at least they have recent posts on their forum.

- We use a GPSr most of the time, for finding and hiding, and helping others place caches.

[+NanCycle]

Not really on topic here, but I just came across this trouble with coordinates:

 

Update Coordinates 05/21/2016

 

Distance from original: 157737.5 feet or 48078.4 meters.

Updating coordinates per owner’s request.

 

Volunteer Geocache Reviewer

 

Just a little misunderstanding of where the decimal point goes.

[+L0ne.R]

I'm having problem getting accurate coordinates with my iPhone 5C can anyone give me advise on the best app to use ?.

 

Use several apps and then compare your coordinates and average them. Then see if you can you return to that averaged set of coordinates. I use several (and my gps unit because I have a gps - it's a bit of a lemon so I like to compare its results to my app results).

 

I have an iPhone 6s. Apps I use:

 

Free GPS

Coordinates

Commander

Easy GPS

(all of the above are free)

 

I hear that Perfect Mark is very good. There's a small fee.

[+Walts Hunting]

Places where Boy Scouts will go on occasion do not have phone service and the app would be useless.

[+niraD]

Places where Boy Scouts will go on occasion do not have phone service and the app would be useless.

An app would not be useless as long as you can download the cache data (and possibly the map tiles) in advance... just like you have to do with a handheld GPS unit.

[+cachepohl]

To the TO: Could you be a bit more specific about your troubles?

In some areas it takes a while before the GPS signals (based on number of satellites in reach) are good enough to derive the position accurately, means closing down to alleged 5m at best.

The maximum accuracy is about 6m uncertainty, with my phone (iPhone 4s) I usually get that accuracy only, when I have mobile phone signal, the mobile cells seem to heighten the accuracy.

The accuracy of the GPS position is not based on the app you use but on your phone and its receiver - all apps can do is to grab the information from the receiver and integrate over a certain time.

 

Easy GPS which was mentioned before tells you the current accuracy +/- n meters, so it might be helpful to you. The old Groundspeak App did the same, the current doesn't seem to show the deviation at once (I mostly use a GPSr, so not familiar with the current app version).

[+JohnCNA]

Places where Boy Scouts will go on occasion do not have phone service and the app would be useless.

An app would not be useless as long as you can download the cache data (and possibly the map tiles) in advance... just like you have to do with a handheld GPS unit.

When we get far into the boonies with no reliable cell phone service, we put our phones in airplane mode and use the offline features of our apps. Yes, that requires setup ahead of time, the same as with my handheld GPS.

1. Download and install GPX files for offline use

2. Refresh the cache listings in the app to download 20 or so logs per cache plus maybe pictures

2. Download/install offline maps

These things will vary in complexity depending on the particular phone app being used. We have tried a few different apps, and have had great luck with the following paid apps:

 

Me: Android phone; CacheSense app.

Her: iPhone and Looking 4 Cache app.

 

These both have downloadable offline maps available and support importing GPX files from a list or PQ. Or in our case, I build the PQ's and import them on our phones. The iPhone is tricky when trying to import GPX files. We use a single Dropbox account, which is accessible from both her iPhone and my Android.