this post was submitted on 27 Oct 2023
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Maps also really wants access to my camera for some reason. When I'm driving it changes the blue dot to a bar that says the location is imprecise and you can tap to improve it. When you tap it asks for additional permissions (that wouldn't help with positioning at all) including camera access. If you ignore it the message goes away after a few seconds and the dot reappears.
It obviously shouldn't be asking you while you're driving, but Google Maps does use the camera to improve your location. It scans things like buildings and landmarks, and gets your position based on where you are in relation to them. It's surprisingly accurate.
This might work in famous places but I can't imagine pictures of endless crop fields where I live would help google with shit. And how exactly is GPS less accurate than pictures of buildings anyway? GPS works on your phone even without internet access, so I don't think google has our best interests at heart here.
I live in a small village in the UK, and it works here. GPS doesn't always get a great signal, so this supplements it.