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Discussion » Questions » Computers and the Internet » What could make a GPS-based speed-tracking app give the wrong speed in a specific area?

What could make a GPS-based speed-tracking app give the wrong speed in a specific area?

I've been playing around with car insurance apps that track your driving via phone. I'm running several, but only one will actually give me a map and how me where I've been and indicate where it thought I drove poorly. It doesn't give exact speeds, but it will gig me if it thinks I went over 80mph. The other day, it nailed me for it twice- once at the start of a curve on the freeway and a second time at the end of the curve; the points were roughly 2.5 miles apart. I thought it was BS because I was watching my speed... normal watching- not crazy staring at it. Anyway, I did the same drive again, but this time, the driver I was following had cruise control set and stayed at 69 the whole time, so I decided to stay behind him on purpose, all while closely monitoring my speed. I did not go over 70. I am certain. However, the app clocked me at 80+ again on the exact same curve. 

This won't impact me because I'm not going to buy car insurance from that company. However, I believe their app is faulty and will impact other drivers. That said, I cannot find any info on what would cause an issue like that. There are no tunnels. However, the zone is right up against a major airport and there are mountains about 3-4 miles to the northeast and roughly the same distance to the south. Could either of those things cause the gps-based speed to be off by 10+mph? Could something else cause it? For what it's worth, none of the other apps have caught this problem- they all say I'm a perfect driver, though I can't even tell if they monitor my speed. I'm assuming they do and that it's part of my overall score.

Posted - April 22, 2018

Responses


  • 53509

      Did you happen to notice any black vans or SUVs with darkly tinted windows traveling near to you?  (If not, don't fret; the better-trained drivers know how to trail you without blowing their cover.)
      Secondly, and more difficult to spot are their choppers. 


    ~
      April 22, 2018 11:03 PM MDT
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  • 7939
    lol Why would they need to follow me when they know exactly where I am? O_o
      April 23, 2018 12:04 AM MDT
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  • 53509


      What a rank amateur. They're not following you to try and find out where you are; like you said, they already know that.  They're following you for evidence, to keep tabs on you, to monitor your activities, to record information on all the people with whom you interact. (Don't think for a minute that they haven't questioned me, if you know what I'm saying.)
    ~
      April 23, 2018 2:02 PM MDT
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  • 17596
    When State Farm wrote me about their new way of saving on insurance costs, I hooted.....I mean we laughed like there was no tomorrow.  I wondered who in the world would allow themselves to have every movement tracked..  That was years ago and I've never heard a single person mention this until now.  It wasn't a phone thing; it was equipment they would install on your car.  I'm laughing just thinking about it. This post was edited by Thriftymaid at April 23, 2018 2:02 PM MDT
      April 22, 2018 11:46 PM MDT
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  • 7939
    *raises hand* I would be that person. 
    I'm using multiple apps at the moment for my own personal amusement and don't plan to keep the one that acts like Big Brother. The company I do plan to go with does not require that I keep the app after they've finished evaluating me, and it'll save me over $1,000 per year if I get approved. So... yeah, I have my price. I can handle letting someone watch me drop my kids off at school and go to the grocery store for a couple of weeks if it saves me that kind of money.
      April 23, 2018 12:20 AM MDT
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  • 5451
    I would love to have my car insurance be $1000 less per year!

    I'd get a check from them instead of having to pay them.
      April 23, 2018 7:22 AM MDT
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  • 53509

      Transporting tildes across state lines should cost you more every year!  I still haven't seen any invoices or sales slips. Half your payload probably came from my collection. Grrrrrrrr.
    __
      April 23, 2018 2:08 PM MDT
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  • 14795
    If you have a clean driving record in England you can insure a brand new BMW costing £40,000 or more fully comprehensive for £3-400 pounds.....
    How much do you have to spend to get insurance cover in Ametica...?  
      April 23, 2018 2:14 PM MDT
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  • 5451
    It's $817.40 per year for my husband and me.  He has a new car that has full coverage which is most of that bill and the rest is liability insurance.

    The price of car insurance in USA depends on where you live.  I live in the middle of nowhere and JA lives in the country's 5th largest city so she'll have to pay way more for car insurance than I do. 
      April 23, 2018 9:39 PM MDT
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  • 53509


      Why is it you never let them look in the trunk of your car, or your basement, or take their ground-penetrating radar and cadaver dogs into your back yard?  Sure, lead them around to the local schools and to Porteryrn as if you were normal, but it's all a ruse to keep them away from the truly incriminating stuff, right?
    ~
      April 23, 2018 2:05 PM MDT
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  • 3719
    Going back to the OP...

    Is there a clue in the first paragraph? Did the GPS measure the actual driven distance around the curve, or the shorter chord?

    If the latter is significantly shorter than the length of tarmac, would the calculation would give an apparently faster or slower speed between the two points.
      April 26, 2018 3:31 PM MDT
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  • 6023
    Good answer

    Also - have you compared your phone GPS to an actual GPS unit?
    I have, and find my phone widely varies in accuracy.  Once, it even placed me on the wrong continent!
      April 26, 2018 3:43 PM MDT
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  • 14795
    It's just another piece of cheap mass produced electronic equipment........my sat Nav and phones do it all the time......there are certain areas in and around London where they pack up all together......
    If its not always my equipment ,it's the contours of the land or the ariels or satellites that pass the signals to each other.....
    You should never fully rely on any electronic things....
    If you can't navigate a ship the old fashioned way with a sexton and clock you should never out to sea with only electronic equipment available.......out there you are on your own if it ever breaks. Down....:(
      April 26, 2018 3:54 PM MDT
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  • 3719
    I agree entirely. Apparently so do many others, for I once heard a report on the radio that after initialling falling in sales with the spread of GPS, printed road atlases have recovered much of their demand!

    BTW I like your inadvertent malapropism! If the sexton doesn't know how to use a sextant, at least he can pray for a safe voyage!
      April 27, 2018 8:35 PM MDT
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  • 14795
    Before I got various sat navs about thirteen years ago when I was 17 and just passed my driving test.....My dad bought me various Road Atlases and he made me study then and lean routes and the road numbers....

    I was able then to drive anywhere using only my memory.....
    Now which all these electronic gismo's ,we all become totally reliant on them and just follow them blindly like they are a god...
    They must be responsible for so many road accidents  with people's brains running on auto pilot and making evert turn without really thinking properly....


    If I'm going to a strange place I still look up the lay of the land first and kind of imprint it in my bounce .
    I find I look at my sat nave far less now as I drive and never think it knows better than me.... 

    Thats improved things a lot and being a natural dumb blonde I've got my accident rate down to ten or twelve crashes a week rather then my normal 25 .
    Is my own fault really my dad said and he blames me for taking a crash course of lessons before I got my licence....   
    Partly it was his fault to as I was encouraged to learn to drive solo on the Bumper Cars at the local Fair Ground ....:( 
      April 28, 2018 2:30 AM MDT
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  • 3719
    :-)

    I've been caught out a few times on complicated roundabouts by the "sat-nag" as a friend calls them, not quite catching up in time and confusing me as to which really is the exit it wants.


    Goodness knows how it and I would get on with The Magic Roundabout in Swindon!
      May 4, 2018 3:24 PM MDT
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