Does iPhone 4 Personal Hotspot add GPS to Wi-Fi only iPads?

There's a bit of a discussion floating around these days regarding the ability of the iPhone 4 Personal Hotspot to add GPS geolocation data to a Wi-Fi only iPad. This got started with an Urbanape post by blogger Zachary Bir in which he described being able to put his iPhone 4 in Personal Hotspot mode, make a connection to the phone with his original Wi-Fi iPad, and then watch on Google Maps on the iPad as the "blue dot" followed his car precisely on the road.

Some bloggers have been saying that they believe this is just the iPad using the standard Wi-Fi geolocation that's available on laptops and other devices, but I agree with Bir that he's getting true GPS information transferred to the iPad from his iPhone 4. WIRED seems to agree. The reason? Most of the standard 3G "mobile hotspots," such as the Novatel MiFi, send GPS information to connected devices as well.

Many of the providers of mobile hotspots, including Sprint and Verizon, make a big deal out of the fact that these hotspots provide accurate location information. Sprint, for example, provides Mac OS X and Windows software with the MiFi that can be used to find local services based on your current location.

I was able to test the GPS capability on an original iPad using the iPhone 4 Personal Hotspot, and I found the locations to be quite accurate on Google Maps. I tried testing the location service on the Geocaching.com website, and I found that not only were my coordinates listed very accurately, but I was also able to use the site's search function to look for nearby caches. The only way the iPad could be getting the GPS coordinates was by using the iPhone 4 Personal Hotspot, since I had the device in a greenbelt away from any Wi-Fi signals.

Bir notes that he has decided to forego the 3G version of the iPad this time as a result of his tests. For many people, that extra $130 can go for more storage in a new iPad 2.

[via Cnet]

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Source: http://blog.urbanape.com/post/3798485232/show-me-the-way

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There's a bit of a discussion floating around these days regarding the ability of the iPhone 4 Personal Hotspot to add GPS geolocation...

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ceebeegeebee

Hi All,
can you browse the internet on a wi fi only iPad using the iphones personal hotspot, in an area that doesnt have a 3G signal?
Thanks!

March 29 2011 at 10:07 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

James Lewis

I have an iPhone 4 and a wifi-only iPad 1. I tried the following three tests:

1. Tether via WiFi: driving around with Maps tracking location on both devices.
2. Tether via Bluetooth (with iPad's wifi turned off).
3. iPhone turned off (completely). iPad with wifi turned on, but no connection while driving around.

I found in no case did the iPad have GPS capability. In case #2 the maps application simply timed out with "Cannot determine location."

In case #1 my iPhone had a very tight radius and tracked quite well as I drove (as expected.). The iPad had a very large uncertainity radius at all times.

In case #3 the iPad had the same uncertainty radius as case #1.

Conclusion, iPhone's hotspot feature does not give iPads true GPS capabilities. It really only takes a very simple test: open Maps.app on both. They aren't in the same location!

March 26 2011 at 10:52 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Pearl Hsia

Do you have a Facebook fan page or account that I can like or add so I can be updated with your posts? Thanks!

March 21 2011 at 10:52 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

suzanne613

I attempted to set personal hotspot up on my iphone and was directed to AT&T. I spoke with customer support who stated that in order to obtain this feature that I would have to give up my unlimited plan. I of course declined. Typical AT&T-ALL ABOUT THE BENJAMINS!

March 19 2011 at 3:07 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

san antonio

It does NOT work...
I just took a road trip to Harlingen Texas from San Antonio and tested with my wifi only iPad 2 tethered to my iPhone 4.. My ipad continuously displayed "can not find current location". 4hrs of driving, many attempts...

March 19 2011 at 2:01 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Tibias

I just tried the original iPad tethered to an iphone 4 With iOS 4.3 and used the weather app yr.no which wants/needs a gps signal to position you for a correct prognosis. The iPad kept telling me it had no GPS-signal. Hence, no GPS-signal tethered to the iPad!

March 18 2011 at 4:05 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Daniel

I can confirm that this also works with an HTC Desire running android 2.2 with hotspot turned on

It also works with iPod Touch too

So this isn't just limited to iPhones or MiFis

March 18 2011 at 2:55 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Doug

I live in a semi-remote area, though recently we started to get 3G from AT&T (yea!). I decided to try this out with my iPhone4 and iPad 1. Maps in iPhone pinpoints my location accurately. With the Personal Hotspot on, and my Wi-Fi-only iPad connected to the iPhone hotspot, Maps on the iPad says "Unable to determine location." Tried it twice, same result both times.

March 18 2011 at 2:52 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Pedro

It seems there's one additional simple test that could be performed to put this question to rest: Turn off location services from within the iPhone 4 settings pane, and then see if the positioning on the iPad becomes less precise. If so, then the hotspot is feeding real GPS info to the iPad.

March 18 2011 at 2:30 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Peteo

You would if you have push notifications and email checking on the iPad,
If you have the traffic feature of Navigon on it goes out to the internet for the traffic info.
Also any other program that you open that accesses the internet.will go add on too.

March 18 2011 at 2:26 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

3 replies to Peteo's comment