How accurate is your mobile device?

1. GPS Benchmark
How accurate is your mobile device?
© 2012 Barbeau Development

2.  A quality-control tool for mobile location
solutions
 Rapidly analyzes and visualizes the accuracy
of location technologies:
◦ Global positioning system (GPS)
◦ Network-based positioning
 Cellular
 Wi-Fi
 Currently available for all Android devices
© 2012 Barbeau Development

3.  Quality control is not catching major problems
with GPS and other positioning systems before
devices go to market
 Example: Samsung Vibrant and Captivate
◦ “AGPS is completely busted. Not ‘sort of working,’ not
‘flawed,’ just utterly broken and non-functional…a
problem for which there's no reasonable explanation
why it made it all the way to retail devices, and it raises
concerns over just how well these products were
tested…Put simply, all three of these companies should
have these phones pulled from shelves until the
problem's fixed.” - Engadget, 8/2/2010
Source: http://mobile.engadget.com/2010/08/02/wheres-the-gps-fix-for-the-samsung-vibrant-and-captivate/
© 2012 Barbeau Development

4.  Major influences:
1. Mobile Device Hardware & Software
> GPS hardware sensitivity
> Antenna quality and device integration
> Assisted vs. Unassisted GPS
> MS-based vs. gpsOneXTRA
> Firmware/software filters
2. Environment
> Indoor / Outdoor
> “Urban Canyons”
> Building materials
> Shielding by enclosure (e.g., purse, car)
© 2012 Barbeau Development

5.  Traditional design, development, and testing
of devices require a significant amount of
manual data analysis.
 Goal of GPS Benchmark:
◦ To enable rapid evaluation and improvement of the
accuracy of mobile phone location technologies via
a mobile app
 Let your engineers spend time improving
your product instead of crunch numbers
© 2012 Barbeau Development

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10. Different devices can have very different GPS accuracies
95th percentile: 550m
68th percentile: 398m
50th percentile: 335m
Samsung Moment 172 meters
HTC EVO 4G 172 meters
Environment: Indoor, 2nd floor, on desk near window, Tampa, Fl
© 2012 Barbeau Development

11. support@gpsbenchmark.com
http://www.gpsbenchmark.com
© 2012 Barbeau Development