dead reckoning (when neither data nor GPS available)
There are zero map apps that offer dead reckoning:
continue navigation when neither GPS nor data (mobile or wifi) are available. Useful also when insufficient GPS birds viewable.
- compass
- accelerometer
- time
optionally
- orientation (for fixed mounts)
Given availability of map data those are enough to continue navigation:
. in tunnels
. in parking structures
. in box canyons
This is especially beneficial for those who do not have (no longer have) aGPS [assisted GPS] features.
But dead reckoning will benefit even those with aGPS.

29 comments
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anónimo commented
And be able to report a problem even if you are offline or you have a weak signal or none at time of reporting problems.
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Grégory Feng commented
Implemented in Google maps but why not in Waze?
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Bright in here commented
Now there is an IC package to accomplish this, lazy google hoard:
U-blox ZED-F9K
"
Continuous lane accurate positioning under the most challenging conditions. Decimeter level accuracy for automotive mass markets
. Turnkey multi‑band RTK solution with built‑in inertial sensors
. Low latency position update rate of up to 30 Hz
" -
Timothy Elmer commented
Please. Every time I drive through a tunnel, Waze looses its mind.
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Luca Olivetti commented
Would it be possible to use the car speedometer to do dead recknoning when using waze with android auto?
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Martin Baťo Bryndza commented
Sygic navigation navigates through tunnels at the last known speed. If you change the speed until you get the GPS signal again, the pointer simply jumps forward or backward. Simple and effective.
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Anonymous commented
Double-integrating the accelerometer to calculate position will always cause accumulating error in the estimate, but Kalman filtering combined with the GPS would eliminate as much as possible. Location will be much more accurate and it will no longer mistakenly think that I'm still on a highway when I've taken an exit and am driving along the service road, and can guess how far through a tunnel I've traveled, etc.
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Pascal Six commented
The Bluetooth OBD dongle TomTom LINK 100 can real time stream the actual speed of the car, especially in tunnels, in traffic jams and at road intersections. Allianz France has incorporated that dongle, the TomTom LINK 100 SDK into its Conduite Connectée app. Waze could consider teaming with TomTom on that, at least on a pilot market. Why not ?
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Dan commented
It would be already great if Waze was able to take tunnel traffic conditions into account, based on average speed to go through it? I have a long tunnel in my daily commute and the lack of information on the traffic status inside the tunnel often results in long queues that could be avoided.
Average speed between two known positions based on GPS data should not be a major deal? -
giovanni pianigiani commented
Please don't link it to data availability. What I notice is that especially in long tunnels Waze believes that I am somewhere in the nearest village outside the tunnel, I presume by taking my location from the data network?
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Christopher Grenness commented
4.0 is out (on iOS for a few months, apparently released for Android today however no update available on my phone), still no "tunnel mode"? This pretty important navigation feature was first requested back in 2010... I'm starting to loose my faith in Waze, having missed several exits in Stockholm's tunnels (first time there driving my own car) a few weeks back.
Please, Waze, replace your "tunnel panic mode" with a simple, decent "tunnel mode" where the app just stays on route/road with last known speed until gps signals are available again. How hard can it be? (I really don't know! :-) ) -
Anonymous commented
Kalman filtering!
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hackingwazeshoulder commented
Having read all of your comments you, sir, are obviously EXTREMELY GENIUS.
I wouldn't be surprised if google has hired you.
3 years later CSR has GNSS chipsets with many of these features I hope will be available on SoC in upcoming android flagship phones.
MediaTek also has developed some great gnss chisets with similar features while csr sat on their collective Sirf hands.
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hackingwazeshoulder commented
I do hope to see dead reckoning implemented in software for those disinterested in flagship phones or unfavorable conditions
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Yoshi Josh Portuondo-Dember commented
When I use TomTom on my iPhone it posts estimated location
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Andrea Verocio commented
Someone mentioned using FM as a dead reckoning method. I think that would be awesome!
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Traveling_Gav commented
"So waze's only option would be to clamp the car to the street it is driving on and predict the position with the latest speed."
I totally agree. The algorithm I would use is if road elevation < ground level && gps lost then propagate the estimated position along the Waze route at the last known speed. When road elevation returns to ground level or above then freeze the position until gps returns.
Seems such a simple implementation to me for what would be a huge benefit. If there is an exit half along the tunnel you get no guidance. What use is that?
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Etienne Durand commented
A company named Movea has a middleware solution that could provider you the solution to do that.
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Safely Driven Quickly commented
The gpsritter comment is pure FUD (extrabogus)
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GPSRitter commented
Hi all. To give you some background on DR. The difficulty lays still in the Algorithms to correctly read out the sensors and convert it into a correct GPS data stream. The only and best option is to connect it to the car directly, either to the sensors or to the CAN-Bus of the car (which is even more difficult as every car manufacturer has its own flavor of CAN-Bus). But that is not possible for 99,999 % of the Userbase. So waze's only option would be to clamp the car to the street it is driving on and predict the position with the latest speed. Don't know how easy it would be for Waze to integrate that. But generally a good idea.