# GPS on the Fire?



## Oregon Sal (Aug 2, 2010)

Is there an app for GPS that can be purchased for the Fire or do I have to wait for the Fire 2,
which will hopefully have one?


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

The Fire doesn't have a GPS receiver, though it does 'know' your location kinda sorta somehow. . . . .come to think of it, I'm not sure how.  I just know that I've had it at home and also at my dad's house an hour away and the weather data in my weather app has referenced the different towns.  Hmmmm.


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## osnova (Oct 20, 2009)

What Ann said.  There is no hardware GPS in Fire.  I believe it "knows" its approximate location through WiFi connection.


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## Chad Winters (Oct 28, 2008)

Ann in Arlington said:


> The Fire doesn't have a GPS receiver, though it does 'know' your location kinda sorta somehow. . . . .come to think of it, I'm not sure how. I just know that I've had it at home and also at my dad's house an hour away and the weather data in my weather app has referenced the different towns. Hmmmm.


That's a side effect of the NSA chip that tracks your every move.....

Osnova is right, they can triangulate an approximate position based on nearby wifi hotspots. I assume this won't work in the woods and its not nearly as accurate as GPS


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## Shastastan (Oct 28, 2009)

I think you would need 3G or 4G.


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## Xopher (May 14, 2009)

Most carriers have the IP address associated with the home address now. Since cable companies now provide phone service, they have to have the address tied in for 911 service. A lot of services can link in to your (generic) location based on IP address. Weather apps and the like will adjust to your basic (course) location based on IP address.

If they ever turn on bluetooth capabilities, you could link your Fire to a GPS dongle, but Amazon would have to activate bluetooth first.


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## osnova (Oct 20, 2009)

Xopher, right.  Once I connected to a WiFi hotspot at an airport.  The map showed that I was in a different airport in a different state.  I guess the IP address for the airport hotspot was the same at my airport as the one in another.  So, you can't rely on this quasi-GPS function.


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## Amy Corwin (Jan 3, 2011)

osnova said:


> What Ann said. There is no hardware GPS in Fire. I believe it "knows" its approximate location through WiFi connection.


Yeah. I think this is true based upon IP block allocation.
But i wish the Fire really did have GPS.  I'm not worried about being tracked because generally speaking, you can always turn it off if you want or need to. But it would be sweet to have the GPS function because it has a larger screen than my DROID which I use now.


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## osnova (Oct 20, 2009)

Fire's success is in part based on its price, which required that a number of Android tablet features be sacrificed (mic, Bluetooth, GPS, accelometer, etc.)


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## joeyp (Mar 16, 2012)

With a wifi Hotspot enabled Android phone you can indeed sync your phone and Kindle fire to use Google maps as a limited version of a gps tool. its  kind of clunky and since Im disabled and dont drive, I just havent devoted the time to figure it out. but search google or XDA and im sure someone will have done a better job than I have


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## Chad Winters (Oct 28, 2008)

I never understand why companies don't enable things like that. It would increase the features without increasing cost.


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## MicroBeta (Jun 9, 2009)

Chad Winters (#102) said:


> I never understand why companies don't enable things like that. It would increase the features without increasing cost.


I was wrong about the Jorjin WG-7310. It has FM receiver & Bluetooth built in not GPS...neither of which is enabled. The OMAP 4430 in the Fire is capable of handling GPS no GPS chip is installed. It can do FM/BT though. There's just no antenna (IIUC they use a common antenna). You were correct. Sorry for the wrong info.

I don't know about other companies but I think in this case the Jorjin WG-7310 is inexpensive and compatible with the other components. I suspect if we read teardowns on other devices we'd find chips with combination uses but not all of them in use. A lot of single chip solutions out there.

Mike


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