Google Maps’ Pseudo GPS: Do we need it
One enhancement to mobile Google Maps in the recent time has been the support for pseudo GPS. Many people think that this technology may make GPS redundant. That is a pretty short-sighted and rather uninformed comment.
What Google Maps does is uses the cell tower id to indicate your approximate location within a big circle. It can do that and it can do only that. The real application of GPS is to use it for navigation or find the altitude at which you are. The pseudo GPS is really not of much use except for entering your approximate current position, in case you are searching for a route. Also, the resolution of pseudo GPS is anywhere from 50 meters to one kilometer, while that of a GPS receiver is a few meters. Anybody who has used a GPS based navigation system will appreciate the use of a real GPS system.
If you are wondering why I am writing this post at this time, considering that this pseudo GPS has been available for a few months now - the rumored 1.1.3 firmware update for iPhone enables this support.
Not to take any credit away from Google, they also support GPS based identification, in case your mobile has an internal GPS or paired with an external GPS receiver.
