4
GPS Location Service
Topics Covered in this Chapter
• Enhancing GPS Performance
• Enabling GPS
• GPS Icon
• GPS Different Location Displays
• Viewing Your Position
• GPS — Things to Keep in Mind
The GPS Location Service feature uses information from Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites orbiting the
Earth to determine the approximate geographical location of your radio.
The GPS Location Service availability, accuracy, and the position calculation time vary depending on the
environment in which you use the radio. The GPS Location Service can assist your dispatcher or colleagues in many
ways such as more efficient deployment of resources or locating your radio when you trigger your emergency service.
The radio can display the location information directly on the screen or send it over the air to your Dispatcher to
display it in the control center. Check your radio configuration details with your service provider.
Where the signals from satellites are not available, the GPS Location Service does not work. This situation
usually happens when your radio cannot establish a view of a wide area of open sky, for example, when
your GPS antenna is covered or facing the ground. Such situations include being:
• In underground locations
• Inside buildings, trains, or other covered vehicles
• Under any other metal or concrete roof or structure
• Near a powerful radio or television tower
• In extreme temperature outside the operating limits of your radio
Even if your location information can be calculated in such situations, it may take longer to do so. Therefore, in any
emergency situation, always report your location to your dispatcher. Even where adequate signals from multiple
satellites are available, your GPS Location Service feature provides an approximate location, within 5–50 meters
from your actual location.
The radio can be triggered to send Location Reports in various circumstances, for example:
• Upon a request
• Triggered by specific events
• At specified time intervals
• At specified distance intervals
The Location Reports can be sent in two ways using:
• SDS
• Packet Data
If the Location Reports are sent over the Packet Data, an Packet Data icon displays when the message is being sent.
-
4-1
