GPS drift and 10 min error lockout making gyms unplayable!

[jstaylor62]

I was running into errors when playing at a gym. I would be within range of the gym, select my lineup, tap go, the countdown would start and then popup an error. No explanation, just an error. When I checked, I was still within range of the gym. Since I was inside and old building, I just wrote it off as GPS signal issues penetrating the building.

But, I was seeing traffic on another site that reported a 10 min lockout for a gym if you drifted away. So I went to a couple of gyms that were in the wide open and had no obstruction of GPS signal. Sure enough, when my trainer drifted out of a very small gym circle, I got the error and was unable to attack the gym for 10 min in spite of literally being at the base of the gym.

Anyone else seeing this behavior?

 

[VisualJae]

I've experienced it in the past when servers were unstable, but not so much in recent memory.

But yes, this is/was an issue. If I remember correctly, Niantic has included Gym optimization as part of their recent updates. Only suggestion would be to make sure you're in an area where your service provider can keep your built-in GPS in top shape.

 

[Neltharion83]

GPS is independent from your service provider, it even works if you have no internet connection. The phone listens to the GPS sattelites, and needs 3 or 4 (or more) of these signals to calculate your position. At any point in time and at any position on the planet, you should get enough of these signals. 31 of these sattelites are operational.

The location is calculated and then provided by the operating system of your phone, apps with GPS-access can just grab it.

So there is one limiting factor, and its not your internet connection or the cellphone provider, its not even the game. Its the quality of the GPS antenna in your phone. It fails underground or in shielded buildings or when there is a lot of metal above you.

There is a kind of pseudo-GPS for phones with no decent built-in GPS antennas, it uses cellphone towers for triangulation, that is not real GPS and phones with an actual GPS antenna do not use it.