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I have a Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3, updated to the latest possible Android 13, OneUI 5.1. Usually, whenever I'm inside a building, my phone (Google Maps) shows me a blue icon instead of a gray one at a completely different location.

I tried restarting the phone. I checked, and there is no mock location app.

What shall I do? It bothers me a lot.

Andrew T.
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Daniel
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  • GPS and similar technologies do not work inside buildings, thus the phone tries to use different indicators for your location like strength of cellular signals, WiFi access points or Bluetooth location tokens. Sometimes these location technologies use an outdated database or wrong because of other reasons. – Robert Jul 04 '23 at 20:42
  • I know. How can I clean these databases on Android to prevent these kinds of mislocations? – Daniel Jul 05 '23 at 06:36
  • Get a bunch of different people with real devices and active GPS to collect all of the WiFi / Bluetooth / Cell Towers near your location to improve the accuracy of the the location provider database. You may want to try run Google Maps in foreground as you enter/leave the building. At some point Google's data will be updated. Find & improve your location’s accuracy – Morrison Chang Jul 05 '23 at 07:27
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    @MorrisonChang As far as I know running Google Maps or not has no impact as the location collecting and sending to Google is done by the location services background service. Go into Android Settings -> Location -> Location Services. Make sure "Google Location Accuracy" is enabled and also "Wifi Scanning" and "Bluetooth Scanning". – Robert Jul 05 '23 at 07:35
  • @Robert More to speed up the process of data collection as for an individual user's location timeline is not updated when Maps isn't foreground and the Google Fit app gets a system notification about background processes. My experience/answer in a somewhat related question – Morrison Chang Jul 05 '23 at 07:45
  • I haven't tried it, but probably using another location service like Mozilla Location Service might help. – Andrew T. Jul 05 '23 at 18:36

2 Answers2

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GPS signals don't penetrate solid objects well. So other methods can be employed to add to it, such as Wifi and Mobile tower. Even if the GPS could be accurate, it does not support height. So different elevations are just going to produce an incorrect result.

Apps for malls and airports tend to use more precise wifi based locations and methods such as beacons. Many of the advertising boards have cameras (you can see them, if you look closely). These follow you around.

GPS signals are carried through waves at a frequency that does not move easily through solid objects. A GPS device relies on a series of satellites in order to determine where it is physically located. The signals sent from these satellites do not penetrate all kinds of barriers with ease. When you use a GPS inside a building, a wide variety of physical barriers and potential interference sources make it difficult for the device to pinpoint your location accurately.

From Why Doesn't GPS Work Inside a Building?

I am not associated with this site, it was the first one in my search, to corroborate my statement.

Rohit Gupta
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  • I know GPS is not supposed to work inside buildings. My question is aiming for more on how can I solve the mislocations caused by "secondary" positioning technologies (like wifi database, etc). – Daniel Jul 05 '23 at 06:38
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Unfortunately there's not that much you can do - since you don't have GPS signal, your phone falls back to locating via WiFi. The WiFi equipment in the problematic building(s) was probably moved lately and has wrong location recorded in Google databases.

You can try reporting an issue in Google Maps - tap on blue dot and report a problem. But that also won't work immediately, you'll need to wait for the Google database to update over time.

Mavrik
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