GPS support in Beyond411

I am pleased to announce a new ~~beta~~ release of Beyond411 that supports location based search using GPS. For example, you can do yellow page searches and get driving directions from your current location, wherever you are.

Update 2008-4-20: I am currently investigating some issues with the reverse geocoding service on geonames.org, this is is causing many GPS Lookups not to resolve.

This release retains the customary Beyond411 focus on performance. I use background GPS lookups and incremental location updates while the app is running to minimize the time that users spend waiting for results.

You can install the 4.20.3 release over-the-air from http://thebogles.com/beta/b411.jad. Please note this is a beta release and you may encounter bumps in the road; let me know of any issues.

Of course GPS functionality is only enabled on Blackberries that support GPS, e.g. the 8800 series. To turn on GPS search mode, select GPS from the location drop down at the top right of the search screen.

Thanks to geonames.org for a reverse geocoding web service licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Note: Please note that the Blackberry Curve doesn’t support GPS. Some programs like Google Maps do “pseudo GPS” by figuring out which cell-phone tower you are communicating with, but Beyond411 does not have this capability.

52 Comments so far
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No love for the 8703e? Or is it just untested? I’ll download and give it a shot.

Tested on the 8703e (Sprint) and it seems to work!! Awesome.

There is new point release 4.20.2 that fixes some small glitches (as well as the out of memory error on 4.1 phones). It also makes the menu key on 8800 phonwork as expected.

Will it work with a Bluetooth GPS puck?

[…] GPS support in Beyond411 (beta) Â» Bogleâs Blog […]

Any plans to support an external Bluetooth GPS receiver for VZW subscribers?

[…] GPS support in Beyond411 (beta) ÃÂ» BogleÃ¢â¬â¢s Blog […]

Ok, this is great unless you don’t have a newer model phone. After upgrading, when I try to run Beyond411, I get “Error starting berry411: Module ‘net_rim_locationapi’ not found.”. I’ve already uninstalled and reinstalled to no avail, and thus can only conclude that my device is incompatible with this beta release.

Any workarounds, or can you initialize the location API only after the GPS function is enabled in options?

The GPS location does not quite work with berry411 search. I am located in Fremont, CA. The GPS reported as Fremont(Centerville), CA, which technically is correct. However, that does not result in any search. I try putting Fremont(centerville), CA as “other”, and then search using “other”, and I also come up with no search result. However, if I take out (centerville), then it works fine. So, I believe that berry411 search might not support anything in (), but for some reason, the GPS reported that…
thanks and please fix this. This is a great application and with GPS support, I can see that it is 10x more powerful, because I am usually driving around and sometimes, you just don’t know which town or city you are around…

Thanks

Regarding net_rim_locationapi not found:

You need an upgrade to your phone’s system software. Here is an example of an upgrade that will fix this problem; the specific link you need will vary depending on your carrier and phone type.

https://www.blackberry.com/Downloads/entry.do?code=C8ED21DB4F678F3B13B9D5EE16489088

Thomas, this problem should be fixed.

I am using an 8830. GPS not working yet. (Miami, FL.)

GPS Works great on BB7130e (sprint) :)

Can’t figure out how to activate GPS on the 8830. Option never appears in the drop-down menu.

I have a 7520, and cannot get the gps search to work, it always come back with a “nothing found near(blank)”
i have checked & refreshed the gps to make sure it was working and it is….

I also have the same problem with the 8800. GPS for other apps (Google Maps) works fine, so GPS is working, but Beyond411 (4.20.3) does not seem to recognize that GPS is available.

I believe 8830 users such as myself do not have GPS on their devices as promised by Verizon, so this function will not matter. I was unaware when I first posted.

I have a blackberry 8100 with beyond411 ver. 4.2.2 I think. Its the newest as of July 3rd 07. 411 hAs been working fine and then today I get a message (when I try to search anything)max connections open. How can this be fixed or can it? What caused it @ was it my fault?please get back to me @email if possible.

This is apparently a Blackberry OS bug. Upgrading your Blackberry OS might help. I am exploring workarounds. (e.g. http://www.blackberryforums.com/developer-forum/670-java-io-ioexception-max-connections-opened.html)

Here’s a question. I’ve been using Beyond 411 for about the past month with no problems whatsoever on my BlackBerry Curve. Today when I went to use it, I get an “HTTP error, response code: 500″ message on any search I try to look up. I’m not sure what may have happened, as I haven’t changed any of my settings, but I thought I’d ask and see if you might know anything about this. I’m on AT&T if that helps.

Thanks!!

i have a 7250 and now “Error starting berry411: Module ‘net_rim_locationapi’ not found.. I have verizon as a carrier. any tips?

Hi,
i downloaded Beyond 411 on my blackberry curve (AT & T) yesterday. I am having some trouble with the GPS feature. I get the GPS option, but it is not working correctly for some reason. It is showing my location as Seattle, WA.. but I am located in Maryland. Any known issues or resolutions to this? Overall, an excellent addition to my Blackberry!

Am having problem with beyond411… I have the latest ( ) version installed. I use my GPS puck (Holux M1000) with Google maps all the time and it works great, but when I attempt *any* search using GPS with beyond411, I get “Sorry, GPS is not currently available.” The odd thing is, when I go into “edit settings,” at the bottom, it says, “GPS available”. If it helps, my connection setting is set to Direct Connection and beyond411 works perfectly other than this GPS problem.

Hi All,
Has anyone else noticed that two word searches (e.g. last name and first name) within “White pages” return no valid HITS?

[…] Install Beyond411 New: Beyond411 now supports GPS lookup on GPS enabled blackberries. Learn more. […]

I have Pearl 8100 with Holux 240 bluetooth puck. I see the GPS option in beyond411, but it alway shows my location as Seattle, WA while I am in Dallas, TX. BBMaps and Google Maps work just fine.

1-Oct, installed lastest version of B411 to BB 8700. Using a GPS puck, googlemaps and BBMaps work like a charm - however if I use the GPS as location in B411 - thinks Im in New Hampshire, not outside of chicago. A bit more work I think, else is may be a compatibility issue with my hardware.

using a 8310 with rogers. using 411 v 4.20.5 but cannot search via GPS location. it says gps is available and i made sure the permission were set to ALLOW, but still nothing.

ideas?

never mind… just read GPS only works in the USA.

Why is that?

Have the 8820 on the roger’s network. Similar issue. GPS works on Google Maps but not on Beyond411. Is it true that it only works in the US?

gps tracking

Here are seven reasons to use GPS auto tracker to keep track of your car. (…)

do you have to pay the $10 a month gps fee in order to use gps on beyond411?

Can you please help me get Berry411 on my BB Curve 8310. I downloaded the file and it had an extenion of .jab and my BB is looking for .xls (or something like that.

I have a new 8810 curve and live in northen virginia. Every other app that supports gps works but not beyond411. It constantly either says “loading” and doesn’t return any results or it returns the string no results and nothing found near “blank”. Gps is working fine as evidenced by several other apps using it. Also once I got port 19780 (I think or something like that) is already bound. Very very strange byt only happened once. I reallllly love the posibilities of this app. I wish it integrated with bbmaps or telenav or google maps with directions, but right now I would settle for the gps to work, and then to work reliably. I must think that since so many other apps can work well, it has to be a problem with the way beyond411 is programmed (eg not a bug in the OS).

Note that the Blackberry Curve doesn’t actually support GPS. Some programs like Google Maps do “pseudo GPS” by figuring out which cell-phone tower you are communicating with, but Beyond411 does not have this capability.

Phil,

GPS is NOT working at least for Sprint’s 8830 — read carefully!

I have used a new 8830 (non-Curve, Sprint, not Verizon) for some months now. I have used Beyond411 with great success in Home, Work and Other modes — once I discovered what you had to do to save the addresses (the Save prompt upon Close doesn’t work). I love the functionality, thanks!

Anyway Sprint’s 8830 *does* support real GPS, with a real radio inside…typically I see 10+ satellites (though this may include a few towers, if they’re likely doing aGPS, I don’t know). Blackberry Maps and Google Maps make full use of this *real* GPS service in Sprint’s 8830, with excellent accuracies at the few-feet level — far better than tower triangulation can hope to do.

HOWEVER, I’ve tried to use GPS repeatedly (with permissions set properly), on the two latest versions of beyond411 (I’ve not tried older ones), 4.20.3 and 4.20.5. I’ve done this in the USA: in Virginia, Texas and several states in between. Nowhere have I *ever* gotten any response from beyond411 other than the one reported above, which reports are apparently often viewed as in doubtful circumstances for other reasons (Curve, Verizon, Canada, to name a few).

Specifically, the error response is always of the form:

“…found near .”

When using, say, Home mode, I purposely got a search to fail, by looking for “notthere”:

“No yellow page results were found for notthere near . Please check your spelling and address, or try one of the searches below.”

I infer that beyond411 may have launched a query with an empty address string, presuming GPS coordinates get resolved to the nearest address nearby?

Is this possible? Can this be fixed?! I tire of scanning store windows along an unknown route, looking for a local address to painfully key into “Other,” just because the link to GPS isn’t functioning as intended.

Perhaps BB has changed the SW interface in these more recent models?

Thanks for any attention you can give this problem, which is a serious fly in the ointment of an otherwise superlative utility!

Drexel
drexel [at] cs [dot] columbia [dot] edu

Couple of mistakes above — one mine, and one caused by your text filters….

Mine:

GPS error messages are always of the form:

“No yellow pages results were found for {myStore} near .”

Home error messages are always of the form:

“No yellow pages results were found for {myStoreThatDoesn’tExist} near {fullAddressSuppressedByMeInThisPosting}.”

Hopefully the curly braces don’t cause the contents to be stripped here, as the use of carat characters did.

Thanks!

Drexel

Why is it stated that the Blackberry Curve does not support GPS? The 8310 version of the curve is branded as having a built-in GPS receiver…this is even marked on the phone itself.

Would it possible for the applicaiton to use the BIS proxy server for it’s data connection? My provider is having trouble with their firewall so it periodically fails making direct socket connections through the blackberry but BIS always works.

Phil,
I have a very similar situation as the one described by drexel.
I am on AT&T, BB 8820 OS 4.5.0.52, GPS working on BBMaps, Googlemaps, MGMaps, and few other programs I have tried.
When I check Beyond411 -> edit settings, at the bottom of the page shows GPS available.
Any search I do using beyond411 and GPS, returns “No yellow page…”.
If I do a search using Home or Work, it returns fine results.
I am using Beyond411 v 4.20.5.

I hope you can provide some insight to make it work,

Richard

I can’t seem to connect to the network with anything other than a basic connection with my Verizon 8330. I also can’t get GPS to work. I either get a seattle listing or none at all. I am using version 4.20.5.

Thanks

When I use beyond 411, it no longer shows the map of the yellow pages search like it used to. What is the problem?

Recently Beyond411 is no longer able to display map image from yellow pages search. Reinstalled earlier version with no change. Map icon sits above directions but can’t be displayed. Any advice?
I checked browser settings etc.
Tmobile BB curve

When I use beyond 411, it no longer shows the map of the yellow pages search like it used to.The directions are shown below the map icon but the map will not display. What is the problem?

Loved it on the curve… any plans for the Storm?

PLEEEAASSSEEEEE

I have a Sprint 8330 that does have GPS; all GPS apps worked on it except for Beyond411.

Interestingly enough, now that Sprint finally got around to releasing OS 4.5 — guess what. Beyond411 GPS functionality works just fine for the yellow pages.

The white pages get confused, it seems. I tried looking up a friend of mine who does have a listed number, and it seems to be mangling the string somehow — it looks for “smith,,NJ” instead of “smith,Anytown,NJ” (although that’s not rocket science to correct.)

I thought you’d be interested to know that the 4.5 OS for the Curve (at least the Sprint variant) fixes whatever was wrong with Beyond411 in 4.3.

Beyond411 has stopped working for me as well. Don’t know why.
From:
Disgruntled pearl owner

I also have a Curve 8330 (on Verizon), and the GPS works with Blackberry Maps, but not with Beyond411. My Beyond411 is version 4.20.5. This is probably the most useful function I have on the Berry. I’d Love to see a solution to the problem.

does this work for bold 9000? xD

I have a Blackberry 8900 from T-mobile. Loaded with no problems. GPS fully active. Sweet application. Thought I had a bug when trying to call on displayed number (would not call), but Phil pointed out call permissions might be set to deny. They were! User error!

Love the app, running on 9630… was using on 8330 before, both sprint carrier… both phones exhibit same xml parsing errors intermittently in beyond411 4.21

one of my favorite apps and very useful/clean, wish it were 100% reliable!

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GPS support in Beyond411

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