What is "Set Current Location?"

Joined
Dec 11, 2007
Messages
62
Location
Boone, NC
TomTom Model(s)
GO 720
In Virtual TomTom there's a button, "Set Current Location" to set your current position (Home, Point on Map, Lat/Long, etc.)

Is this to somehow calibrate the unit? If so, what do you use for a reference? If not to calibrate the GPS, or accurately mark your location, what is the purpose?

It seems "GPS Position" is always greyed out.

I've looked all through the TT manual and the TT online help and have found no reference to this.

Ideas, anyone?

Thanks,

Fred
 
Because this is just a simulation and there is no satellite fix, the program has no idea where you are. So you have to tell it.

Also, if you wish to test an itinerary that you've made up which starts from some point distant from you, you can fix your starting point and the virtual TomTom 'thinks' that this is where you are.
 
I don't know about that, jimbo. In Virtual TomTom (Operate My GO), I can still see how many satellites the unit is receiving, and the coordinates (for my computer desk) are the same, whether in or out of the cradle.

Earlier when I set my location at a point downtown (6 miles from home) the cursor would go to that spot and display those coordinates whenever I pressed the GPS button.

OTOH, if this is a way to accurately "register" the current location of the TomTom, why is it only available in Virtual TT? To make use of it, I'd have to know the exact coordinates of my computer desk, which I cannot accurately read if the unit calibration is off.

Or is there something I'm missing here?
 
I have a suspicion that the satellite bars that you see on the screen are phony. I've done this when my unit had no satellite fix (sitting on my desk), yet the 'Operate my Go' screen showed the bars. I think it's just for 'realism'.

If you are asked to indicate the start location, I believe you can choose your 'Home' location (or 'Point on map', 'Latitude and longitude', 'Favorite', 'POI' etc.)
 
Maybe you're right. I dunno...

If I go to the center of the house (away from windows) those blue satellite bars turn grey. Then when I get near a window some, and then several, turn blue, with varying bar heights. Looks to me the same way it looks when I'm standing out in an open field, 'cept maybe the blue bars are not as tall.

So in my location I'm satisfied the unit is reading satellites while docked.

OTOH, a lot of people (say, in an office building or apartment complex) might not get a signal while docked, and this would be a way for them to tell the GPS where it is.

I still wonder, though, about the horizontal line about 4/5 of the way up on those satellite bars, and whether that's the minimum required signal strength.

Today I was walking the dogs on a town greenway in an open field. The TomTom GPS Status was getting signals from 6-8 satellites, but the bars were mostly blue about halfway up. When the speed indicator showed 3 or 4 MPH the direction arrow was very sensitive to changes in direction, and the coordinate's numbers would change with every two steps.

But frequently the speed indicator would change to zero for 5-10 seconds at a time and the coordinates would stop changing.

Wish TomTom had better information available on issues such as this.
 

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