If you are a Blackberry Storm mobile user on the Verizon Wireless network and want to fully utilize Google Maps, you may be out of luck. Tom from the Google Maps team said in a Google Mobile Forum thread that Google Maps is not able to use the Verizon Wireless GPS feature at this current time.
Tom does explain that they are able to locate your location through cell phone towers or wifi networks, but the accuracy is clearly not as good as it would be, if it was able to utilize the GPS service. Tom said:
I wanted to provide a little background for people with Verizon Wireless devices who aren't able to use their device's internal GPS with Google Maps for mobile. Access to GPS data on Verizon devices is restricted to certain applications. At this time, Google Maps for mobile isn't included in that list. However, two other methods of determining your location, Cell ID and Wifi access points, can be used to pinpoint your place on the map.
The problem is, most of the folks in the thread don't buy what Tom is saying. They are confident that Verizon Wireless's GPS feature is unlocked. They think Tom is talking about something else. They think it is just an excuse and Google is buying time to release an update to the program.
So, is Verizon blocking Google from using the GPS feature on the Blackberry Storm or is Google looking for an excuse?
Forum discussion at Google Mobile Forum.
