Compass always points north

[cfaerber]

Hi!

I've bought an Andromeda box and installed it into my car. However, the Android system thinks that the system is always pointed towards north (i.e. 0 deg), which confuses nagivation apps such as Navigon. This makes the box nearly unusable for navigation.

What could be the cause for this?

[Chortenia]

Hi.
We haven't used Navigon. However, in iGo and other navigation programs the map position is changing according the direction of car movement. In some programs there is an option "always North". maybe, there is such option in Navigon.
Here is an example from iGo:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/71214894/igo/IMG_20150113_103444.jpg

and "Always North":
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/71214894/igo/IMG_20150113_103501.jpg

[cfaerber]

That is not what I meant. I do know that you can set up the display of the navigation app.

The problem is that the GPS is returning incorrect compass (or bearing/heading) data. This is also visible in Google Maps; the small blue triangle (arrow) that is supposed to point into the direction of travel always points north.

It seems that Navigon is using the compass data (and possibly the current speed) to predict the next position. Because that data is incorrect, it does not lock onto the road but to a position north of the road. (That's most problematic with motorways because it recalculates the route to the nearest non-motorway way and to the next possible entry.)

By the way, the speed returned by the GPS also seems to be incorrect. It's a bit (around 5%) too high (e.g. it shows 127 km/h when other GPS systems consistently show around 120-121 km/h). I don't know whether this causes problems with Navigon or other navigation apps, too.

Seems that only a bugfix for the GPS hardware/driver can help here.

[Chortenia]

Hi
Is assisted GPS (a-GPS) function on? Is there Internet on the box?
Our engineers will hold an experiment today. However, we think if there was such problem, the clients would have already informed us about it, since the box is being sold for a long time.
As far as incorrect data about the speed are concerned, 5-10 km/hour dispersion is quite a normal occurrence.

[Chortenia]

Hi.
Andromeda does not have an embedded compass so the direction is detected based on the vector of movement. If you stand still, the direction can be displayed incorrectly.
The speed dispersion is the larger, the speed is higher because the discrepancy is measured in %
Here is the video. The smartphone, actually, often lost the GPS signal. The Andromeda didn't lose the signal and showed correct direction of the movement. However, only if the speed was higher than 5 m/hour.
So, we can't detect any problems. If we understood your problem incorrectly, please, send us the video of it.

P.S. Sorry for the quality of the video.

[cfaerber]

It took me some time to get the videos and to transfer them off the box. I usually only have time every other weekend to for experiments.

Google Maps:


You can see that a small triangle pointing upwards (north) appears. The movement on the map is different.
(Note: on the motorway, the network was not fast enough to update the maps.)

In Navigion, you can see that navigation gets confused:



I've also tried some other navigation systems:

• In Google Maps, I can't enter any target. The system locks up when I select the text box to enter a target.
• Europe GPS Navigation TomTom (the old TomTom) crashes upon start.
• Nokia HERE needs a newer Android version.
• TomTom GPS Navigation Traffic (the new TomTom with in-app purchases) needs a newer Android version.
• My trial period for GPS Navigation & Maps Sygic expired before I could download the maps.

[Chortenia]

Hi!
As far as incorrect display of the motion vector, please, change the antenna. If it's inside the car, try to put it outside.

In Google Maps, I can't enter any target:

try to update google play services - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.gms. We cut them off from the firmware. Maybe, it's the problem.