Just took a walk down to the local park and turned cellphone stuff off like was in the backcountry. One problem I have using maps on an iPhone is that while I can turn off cellular data, I can't turn off all cellular without using "airplane mode" which also turns off the GPS. I tried this in the park and had a good lock on my position turning individual things off until I turned Airplane mode on which kills the cellular signal and apparently the GPS too.

With all the mapping apps out there, you'd think Apple would realize that GPS can function while in Airplane mode because the cellphone doesn't need to transmit, only receive; just give the GPS receiver its own on/off button in the location settings menu. After turning everything off using airplane mode you can turn the GPS back on to get maps working without draining the battery looking for a cell signal. Does that make sense? This should be totally doable with software.

Then again I noticed on the iPhone 5 location is provided by: Assisted GPS and GLONASS.
Quote:
Assisted GPS, generally abbreviated as A-GPS or aGPS, is a system that can under certain conditions improve the startup performance, or time-to-first-fix (TTFF), of a GPS satellite-based positioning system. It is used extensively with GPS-capable cellular phones, as its development was accelerated by the U.S. FCC's 911 requirement to make the location of a cell phone available to emergency call dispatchers.[1]...
From that I take it that maybe FCC is requiring the GPS be assisted, so Apple only powers the GPS when cellular is also on. IMO that is short sighted.
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Better is the Enemy of Good Enough.
Okay, what’s your point??