Smartphone maps are about to jump from meter-level to centimeter-level accuracy
30 cm
The location-mapping tools of many smartphones offer an accuracy of around 5 meters (16.4 feet). But phones with a newer generation of chips could hone their accuracy to just 30 centimeters (11.8 inches).
Published | Photo by Reuters/Kim Hong-Ji
That means more precision for users when navigating maps, ordering rides, or sharing locations.
American firm Broadcom is developing a new generation of chips, which should be available in smartphones already in 2018.
The chips will be more precise because they will be able to receive GPS signals from a more recent generation of navigation satellites.
Combining those signals with the ones traditionally used by GPS devices will allow smartphones to jump from meter-level to centimeter-level accuracy.
