Wrong Latitude / Longitude

Hi, was tested sending Preset message with GPS location included to recepients GSM, mail and mapshare. Message to all were delivered promptly, but with wrong GPS location (somewhere in the middle of Pacific). The same (wrong) location was also sent by Explorer+ a week ago.

Any idea why this happens and how to avoid this?

Text from received email: "XY sent this message from: Lat 34.026611 Lon 173.244717."

Mapshare:

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Jure over 4 years ago +1 verified

Possible reason: there was a quick warning message just before message was sent: "Poor GPS strength causes inaccurate or missing message locations...Wait for GPS" to which I reacted with "Send Anyway…

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+1 Jure over 4 years ago

Possible reason: there was a quick warning message just before message was sent: "Poor GPS strength causes inaccurate or missing message locations...Wait for GPS" to which I reacted with "Send Anyway". Probably I would have to wait..

0 twolpert over 4 years ago in reply to Jure

Yes, if you want an accurate location, you need to wait until this warning is no longer displayed. The unit will send the message, probably with an inaccurate location, if you tell it to do so. The point being to allow you to force out a message when the message is more important than an accurate location.

I believe that the location is locked in when you tell the unit to send (warning or not). In point of fact, you almost certainly cannot actually send the message if you really cannot get a fix. But since the location is locked in already, you will not get a corrected location when the unit actually manages to send. The lock-in is actually a feature - it ensures that the location sent with the message is the location from which you sent the message. Regardless of how far you've moved by the time the unit can actually transmit.

The time to acquire varies by model. In my limited experience, the Mini is the worst.

0 Jure over 4 years ago in reply to twolpert

Thank you, TWolpert. Another in-depth answer! Although the Inreach UI is not state-of-the-art, I think there are many things in the background that have been carefully studied. The system as a whole is slowly becoming nice to me.

0 BK over 4 years ago in reply to twolpert

Hi twolpert, can you please help me make sure that I understand your answer here? If I tell it to "send anyway" with poor GPS signal, when it sends the message a minute or two later, will it provide the location from which I told it to "send anyway" or will it provide the location when it actually transmitted? (usually it takes 1-3 minutes to send)

Also, it seems like my Mini ALWAYS says that I have "poor GPS" signal when I go to send a message, even if it is wide open space with blue skies. Why is it always poor when I go to send a message?

Similarly, if I put a waypoint down, it shows up on MapShare (which is really cool). Is that usually going to be an accurate waypoint location?

Thanks!

0 twolpert over 4 years ago in reply to BK

The location in the message, waypoint, sent track point, or whatever is never any better than the current fix.

For a message, the location is locked in when you commit to send it, NOT at the time when it is actually sent. This is by design. You want the location that goes with the message to reflect where you were when you said to send it. It might be some time (and some distance away) when the message actually goes out. You would not want THAT location on the message.

If you ALWAYS see the poor fix warning - and it does not clear up in a few minutes under a clear sky while standing still - you might want to open a support call. It might be that there is something actually wrong with your unit. Or not. The mini tries really, really hard to conserve battery power. This means that it does not (normally) compute a continuous fix (like some handhelds you might be used to using). That would require keeping the GPS radio on continuously, which sucks power. As a result, it will typically take a minute or so (?) for the Mini to acquire a good fix when one is needed. This is why I say that there MIGHT be a problem with the unit if the warning does not clear up in a minute or two.

Also see the advice in the thread about "slow fix" for getting an up to date almanac.