GPS accuracy - Routing Issues - sharing exprience and recomendation
Quote from MjK on 16.08.2025, 04:25Hello community,
I would like to share my experience of using the Scenic app, focusing on the quality of GPS reception and the resulting incorrect routing instructions.
As a rule, faulty routing occurs rather rarely on wide roads or highways. However, despite using a relatively modern iPhone 15 Pro Max, I have experienced significant GPS reception issues in certain areas, particularly in dense forests or narrow canyons. This has resulted in Scenic providing incorrect routing instructions due to the Apple location service misinterpreting the poor signal, creating a kind of 'off-track' situation.
These errors also occur with other navigation apps, such as Apple Maps or Google Maps, but since these apps rarely follow a predetermined route, the errors are not as obvious as they are with a specifically planned route, as is the case with Scenic.
Another characteristic of GPS reception errors is GPS jumping. A search for 'GPS accuracy' in the Apple discussion forum finds over 2,300 entries on this topic.
On my last tour of over 3,000 km across the Austrian, Swiss, Italian and French Alps, these errors occurred from time to time. Tips such as increasing the distance threshold under Settings > Fine-tuning > Route recalculation parameters help a little by only increasing the error tolerance; however, they do not address the fundamental reception issue.
The error rate is increased not only by local conditions, but also by the placement of the iPhone (e.g. in a holder, luggage box or glove compartment).
(https://support.apple.com/en-hk/102515 - Improve GPS accuracy: keep a clear view in several directions. Walls, vehicle roofs, tall buildings, mountains and other obstructions can block the line of sight to GPS satellites.)
Over the last few weeks, I have validated this extensively by placing the iPhone in different positions and locations while driving over 1,700 km.
However, as I prefer to use a MagSafe mount with a cooling function, my phone is mounted almost vertically (also to limit sun exposure/iPhone overheating issues), and it is difficult to position the iPhone's GPS antenna any more optimally for satellite reception.
To find a better solution, I also experimented with using an external Bluetooth GPS receiver (a slightly older GNS 2000) as an alternative GPS receiver.
Almost as expected, using a dedicated GPS receiver not only improves the reception quality, these "off-track“ situations did not occur at all anymore.
During my tests, even on long day trips of over 8 hours, power consumption or heat generation from an additional receiver did not affect the iPhone.
The setup with a CarPlay display and an external Bluetooth receiver that is both fixed installed and auto-connected to the iPhone creates an ideal environment for my use case. I am also confident that Guido will optimise CarPlay's limited interface functionality over time using the new possibilities of iOS 26. In the meantime my iPhone remains accessible in its MagSafe holder, so all functionality is available by switching to the iPhone if required.
As a recommendation, if you experience frequent issues with GPS accuracy and errors in scenic routing, devices such as the 'Garmin GLO 2' or the more recent 'GNS 3000' are good alternatives for improving the quality of the GPS signal reception by optimally positioning the receiver and safely stowing away the iPhone (the same applies to Android phones).
Wishing you all relaxed and safe rides!
Markus
Hello community,
I would like to share my experience of using the Scenic app, focusing on the quality of GPS reception and the resulting incorrect routing instructions.
As a rule, faulty routing occurs rather rarely on wide roads or highways. However, despite using a relatively modern iPhone 15 Pro Max, I have experienced significant GPS reception issues in certain areas, particularly in dense forests or narrow canyons. This has resulted in Scenic providing incorrect routing instructions due to the Apple location service misinterpreting the poor signal, creating a kind of 'off-track' situation.
These errors also occur with other navigation apps, such as Apple Maps or Google Maps, but since these apps rarely follow a predetermined route, the errors are not as obvious as they are with a specifically planned route, as is the case with Scenic.
Another characteristic of GPS reception errors is GPS jumping. A search for 'GPS accuracy' in the Apple discussion forum finds over 2,300 entries on this topic.
On my last tour of over 3,000 km across the Austrian, Swiss, Italian and French Alps, these errors occurred from time to time. Tips such as increasing the distance threshold under Settings > Fine-tuning > Route recalculation parameters help a little by only increasing the error tolerance; however, they do not address the fundamental reception issue.
The error rate is increased not only by local conditions, but also by the placement of the iPhone (e.g. in a holder, luggage box or glove compartment).
(https://support.apple.com/en-hk/102515 - Improve GPS accuracy: keep a clear view in several directions. Walls, vehicle roofs, tall buildings, mountains and other obstructions can block the line of sight to GPS satellites.)
Over the last few weeks, I have validated this extensively by placing the iPhone in different positions and locations while driving over 1,700 km.
However, as I prefer to use a MagSafe mount with a cooling function, my phone is mounted almost vertically (also to limit sun exposure/iPhone overheating issues), and it is difficult to position the iPhone's GPS antenna any more optimally for satellite reception.
To find a better solution, I also experimented with using an external Bluetooth GPS receiver (a slightly older GNS 2000) as an alternative GPS receiver.
Almost as expected, using a dedicated GPS receiver not only improves the reception quality, these "off-track“ situations did not occur at all anymore.
During my tests, even on long day trips of over 8 hours, power consumption or heat generation from an additional receiver did not affect the iPhone.
The setup with a CarPlay display and an external Bluetooth receiver that is both fixed installed and auto-connected to the iPhone creates an ideal environment for my use case. I am also confident that Guido will optimise CarPlay's limited interface functionality over time using the new possibilities of iOS 26. In the meantime my iPhone remains accessible in its MagSafe holder, so all functionality is available by switching to the iPhone if required.
As a recommendation, if you experience frequent issues with GPS accuracy and errors in scenic routing, devices such as the 'Garmin GLO 2' or the more recent 'GNS 3000' are good alternatives for improving the quality of the GPS signal reception by optimally positioning the receiver and safely stowing away the iPhone (the same applies to Android phones).
Wishing you all relaxed and safe rides!
Markus
Quote from rschenkels on 16.08.2025, 08:39Hi,
I have recently bought a Chigee AIO-6 carplay device, which has an integrated build-in GPS to solve your mentioned issues.
Some other carplay devices such as Carpuride don't have that build-in GPS, that is also why they are cheaper.
Ron
Hi,
I have recently bought a Chigee AIO-6 carplay device, which has an integrated build-in GPS to solve your mentioned issues.
Some other carplay devices such as Carpuride don't have that build-in GPS, that is also why they are cheaper.
Ron
Quote from Guido on 16.08.2025, 09:15Thank you for this extensive real-world analysis Markus! Very insightful and helpful.
Thank you for this extensive real-world analysis Markus! Very insightful and helpful.
Quote from Marts on 16.08.2025, 18:32Quote from rschenkels on 16.08.2025, 08:39Hi,
I have recently bought a Chigee AIO-6 carplay device, which has an integrated build-in GPS to solve your mentioned issues.
The AIO-5 Lite also has a connected GPS module (the AIO-5 Play, I think it's called, has its GPS built in to the unit). As far as I'm aware those GPS modules are only for the Chigee's speedo and trip computer functions. They don't interact with CarPlay, at least not on the AIO-5.
How would the Chigee's GPS talk to the app that is being mirrored from the phone?
Quote from rschenkels on 16.08.2025, 08:39Hi,
I have recently bought a Chigee AIO-6 carplay device, which has an integrated build-in GPS to solve your mentioned issues.
The AIO-5 Lite also has a connected GPS module (the AIO-5 Play, I think it's called, has its GPS built in to the unit). As far as I'm aware those GPS modules are only for the Chigee's speedo and trip computer functions. They don't interact with CarPlay, at least not on the AIO-5.
How would the Chigee's GPS talk to the app that is being mirrored from the phone?
