Nokia’s A-GPS Reduces Time to First Fix

Nokia's new A-GPS service can reduce the time to first fix (TTFF) by enabling operators to provide their own regional A-GPS services.

GPS service can be a wonderful thing, but one of its downsides is waiting for GPS-enabled devices to get their fixes: it’s not unusual to wait two, three, or four minutes for a GPS device to figure out where it is—and that, of course, is assuming the device can pull in enough satellite signals to get its position at all. This delay is widely seen as an impediment to many location-based mobile services, since consumers don’t often have the patience to wait around for location and mapping information.

Finland’s Nokia aims to change that by rolling out a new A-GPS capability as an update to its Nokia 6110 Navigator and Nokia N95 smartphones. In essence, the Assisted GPS (A-GPS) system aims to reduce start up times and the time to first fix (TTFF) by enabling service providers to offer their own regional GPS service. When consumers power up the device and try to determine their location, they’ll be able to get their initial position much faster using A-GPS, then transition to traditional GPS while roaming. If A-GPS is not available, users can still connect to standard GPS…albeit with standard wait times. Nokia estimates A-GPS can reduce time to first fix to under a minute in most countries.

“By decreasing the time wasted while you wait for a first fix, we are increasing the enjoyment that Nokia Maps provides,” says Ralph Eric Kunz, vice-president, multimedia experiences, Nokia. “Consumers now have the comfort of quick fix times which create a better navigation experience when using Nokia Maps.”

Owners of Nokia 6110 Navigators and N95s can download the update using the Nokia Software Updater PC application. Nokia plans to roll A-GPS capability into its future GPS-equipped handsets.