Chapter 11

Using Maps

Your tablet is more than a laptop without a keyboard. Depending on the device, it’s also a map, compass, GPS navigation system, and a restaurant guide—all rolled into one.

There are a lot of apps that use maps; but in order to do so, those apps have to know where your tablet is. To that end, many Android tablets have GPS units, some have cell phone data, and all of them so far have Wi-Fi.

In general, tablets can be located by the following:

  • GPS (global positioning satellites)
  • Cell phone towers
  • WPS (Wi-Fi positioning system)

There are more than 27 global positioning satellites orbiting the Earth. Your tablet’s GPS unit attempts to find the signal from at least three of them and triangulate your position. However, this ...

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