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Author	Topic: SmartPhone Station Finder	Post a Reply Back to Topics

umbluegray Veteran Author Memphis Posts:309 Points:114,970 Joined:Jun 2008	Message Posted: Mar 6, 2013 1:35:39 PM Ignore umbluegray Report Abuse When I launch the GasBuddy app many times the station listing will contain stations from the last time I was logged in rather than the stations near my current position. It usually takes several refresh attempts (either by pressing Reload or the screen-pull down method). For example, I just launched the app and it lists stations near my home from when I was posting prices last night. Actually, I'm at work several miles away. I've reloaded and refreshed and I'm still seeing the stations from last night instead. I usually have to refresh several times before the station list is updated with those near my current geographic location. Yes, my GPS is on and I have a good data connection. Is this a common issue with others or am I not doing something correctly?

umbluegray

Veteran Author
Memphis

Posts:309
Points:114,970
Joined:Jun 2008

Message Posted: Mar 6, 2013 1:35:39 PM

Ignore umbluegray Report Abuse

When I launch the GasBuddy app many times the station listing will contain stations from the last time I was logged in rather than the stations near my current position.

It usually takes several refresh attempts (either by pressing Reload or the screen-pull down method).

For example, I just launched the app and it lists stations near my home from when I was posting prices last night.

Actually, I'm at work several miles away. I've reloaded and refreshed and I'm still seeing the stations from last night instead.

I usually have to refresh several times before the station list is updated with those near my current geographic location.

Yes, my GPS is on and I have a good data connection.

Is this a common issue with others or am I not doing something correctly?

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DavisSta All-Star Author San Francisco Posts:614 Points:2,498,945 Joined:Jun 2004	Message Posted: Apr 1, 2013 10:03:34 PM Ignore DavisSta Report Abuse The GasBuddy Android app has a rather idiosyncratic behavior that I think is the the cause of a lot of the problems mentioned in this thread. It takes a read of where you are when it is started up and REMEMBERS this location until it is FULLY shut down. As joshou pointed out in his post, to fully shut down the app you must press the Android BACK button repeatedly until you exit from the app to the Android home screen; simply pressing the Android HOME button to get out of the app to the Android home screen does NOT fully exit GasBuddy and the app will continue to remember the location where you were when you ORIGINALLY started the app. In other words, if you don't fully shut down the GasBuddy app, go to a location 10 miles away, and then go back into GasBuddy it will display the stations near your old location 10 miles away, because it has remembered the location from when you originally started app. As the original poster pointed out, hitting the app's Reload button will update the list to display stations near the your current location, although this will only work once your device gets a GPS or other fix on your current location. Thus it may take you several tries at reloading. (If you wait until the distances shown in the station list change to reflect the correct distances from you current location before you press Reload, you should get a list of stations near your current location.) However, there is a significant problem with just pressing Reload. The problem is that the list of brands that will be displayed is determined by the brands that were near (within 5 miles of) your location when you ORIGINALLY started the app. So if there is a station near you now but there were no stations of that brand near you when the app was originally started, that station will not be displayed on the Find Gas Near Me list. There are several ways to get that station to display: (1) exit the app fully by repeatedly pressing the BACK button and then restart the app, (2) go into the Filter portion of the app (accessed via the Android MENU button) and reapply the filter, (3) go into Map View and select the station from the map, (4) if the station is on your Favorites list, access it from Favorites. On trips longer than several miles, I generally use method (1): I periodically fully exit the app and restart it. So while there are workarounds to the problem, I think it would be much more convenient to use the app if pressing the Reload button reset the filter to reflect your current location in addition to doing what it currently does. [Edited by: DavisSta at 4/1/2013 10:11:34 PM EST]
aladdin9 All-Star Author Tucson Posts:633 Points:1,815,805 Joined:Apr 2006	Message Posted: Apr 1, 2013 6:42:20 PM Ignore aladdin9 Report Abuse This is why all of the mobile apps should have a GPS relocate button besides the refresh button. Also when clicking on a station to perform a price entry, the address for the station should be displayed, this can prevent data entry errors especially when multiple stations of the same brand are located near each other (sometimes on the same intersection!). I'm not sure if this is related to location errors or delays querying the GB database, but sometimes both the map and list view will refuse to display a station I'm located at, sometimes switching from regular grade to another fuel grade will fix the issue.
Don Moderator	Message Posted: Apr 1, 2013 5:43:43 PM Ignore Don Report Abuse To ensure that you have location services fully enabled: 1. From the home screen of your device, press the menu button and go to Settings 2. Select Location & Security 3. Under My Location be sure to check "Use Wireless Networks" and "Use GPS Satellites" You might need to try closing the app, refreshing these location settings, and then trying again. Another thing you can try and do is open the app in Map View and wait for about 30 seconds to see if the default mapping app can zero in on your location. Location services is queried frequently when the app is in use, but the results won't change if you've a) opened up the app from being hidden (home button) instead of closing and re-opening the app or b) the GPS info being pulled from the next query is considered less accurate than the previous. I hope this helps. -Don
Zimcity Champion Author Twin Cities Posts:65,425 Points:3,694,485 Joined:Aug 2001	Message Posted: Mar 29, 2013 1:02:25 PM Ignore Zimcity Report Abuse This is a really annoying bug, that would be nice to be fixed. Perhaps they could use the coding from the old mobile site, which seems to work much better, to fix this problem.
joshou Sophomore Author Iowa Posts:116 Points:93,880 Joined:Feb 2012	Message Posted: Mar 29, 2013 4:37:24 AM Ignore joshou Report Abuse when you exit do it by using the BACK button and not the HOME. there are several apps that work that way. closing it by the home button does not truly close and shut down the app.. (there are several other apps that act the same way) If you forget and this happens, simply click BACK untill you see the home screen showing find gas near me.. then click find gas near me button again [Edited by: joshou at 3/29/2013 4:39:34 AM EST]
kwzh Champion Author San Jose Posts:20,665 Points:3,685,555 Joined:Jul 2001	Message Posted: Mar 10, 2013 6:22:29 AM Ignore kwzh Report Abuse Scrapheap writes, > I wish the app developers would focus on fixing these Perhaps OPIS will consider hiring more developers who can work on the main site.
Scrapheap Champion Author Virginia Posts:14,561 Points:2,361,455 Joined:Sep 2006	Message Posted: Mar 10, 2013 4:36:20 AM Ignore Scrapheap Report Abuse I've had similar experienced to RogerB. I have also had cases where the app would not sort the stations by distance correctly. If found stations near me, and it got the distances correct, but it would not sort them by distance. I wish the app developers would focus on fixing these obvious errors instead of developing new games, like top spotter.
RogerB Champion Author Indianapolis Posts:18,071 Points:2,626,060 Joined:Dec 2005	Message Posted: Mar 10, 2013 1:19:38 AM Ignore RogerB Report Abuse I have that problem a lot, also. Sometimes switching to the map view, then selecting "Follow Me" will help. One time recently, the GB app continued to show me at a location clear across town, even in the map view. It was a location where I had been previously. To check my GPS, I started Google Maps, which immediately found my location an followed me. I shut down, then re-started the GB app, and it still was unable to show my correct location. I switched back and forth between Google Maps and the GB app. Google Maps always found me, GB app never did. I had to re-boot my phone before the app would work right. The above situation only happened once. Usually the app is just slow to find my location, and sometimes it starts up in the correct place right off.
gougenator Champion Author Dallas Posts:29,878 Points:3,247,850 Joined:Aug 2003	Message Posted: Mar 8, 2013 7:04:30 AM Ignore gougenator Report Abuse its kinda lame that it doesnt work right ,i think it should GPS the stations while roaming ,that would be nice/useful for hunting for stations along a freeway in a neighborhood where some cheap prices may be (use price-by-cheapest) otherwise its just worthless to me i think. Android is so clumsy ,you scroll the app price list and it almost always jumps to update a price with even the slightest touch lame lame
scoutmaster Champion Author Pittsburgh Posts:81,383 Points:3,256,545 Joined:Mar 2003	Message Posted: Mar 8, 2013 6:53:53 AM Ignore scoutmaster Report Abuse I think is't a GPS thing umbluegray. This use to happen more on my Droid X but since I switched to the Galaxy III this happens less. Improved technology.
umbluegray Veteran Author Memphis Posts:309 Points:114,970 Joined:Jun 2008	Message Posted: Mar 7, 2013 11:59:14 AM Ignore umbluegray Report Abuse So it's not just me. That's good to know. I do switch to map view at times. I'll locate a particular station on the map and select it so I can enter prices. So this issue isn't device-specific? Is it an Android thing or do iPhone users experience it, too?
Wanda127 Champion Author Florida Posts:2,499 Points:916,755 Joined:May 2010	Message Posted: Mar 7, 2013 10:11:12 AM Ignore Wanda127 Report Abuse This happens to me sometimes. The stations I posted the fuel price at will come up instead of the stations I'm near. Sometimes the others stations will be 8-10 miles or even more from me. It takes several refreshes to get the closer stations.
scoutmaster Champion Author Pittsburgh Posts:81,383 Points:3,256,545 Joined:Mar 2003	Message Posted: Mar 7, 2013 6:13:40 AM Ignore scoutmaster Report Abuse That happens to me from time to time. Have you tried switching to the map view?
Scrapheap Champion Author Virginia Posts:14,561 Points:2,361,455 Joined:Sep 2006	Message Posted: Mar 6, 2013 1:42:54 PM Ignore Scrapheap Report Abuse This has been an ongoing issue for a long time. I think this leads to many of the incorrect price posts. Pity that they work more on the gaming issues of the app rather than accuracy issues.