Finding nearest address on iPhone/iPod touch/iPad

I'm sure a lot of iDevice users know this cool trick, but I'm going to post about it so others know about it too.

Let's say you are in a building and for some reason want to know the address. Nobody you would bother to talk to knows it. Luckily, you have an iDevice that is location-aware.

Assuming your device has a good enough fix on your location and is connected to the Internet, just pull out your device, open Maps and tap the blue dot that represents your location. The estimated address will pop up in the bubble that appears.

Note that you should not rely on this. At home, my phone has been known to think my address is my neighbor's address.

How is that a trick? That's the most basic feature of any device that has a GPS. To tell you where you are. Even my old Nokia E63 could do that. It's like saying, see this stove over here? If you put a kettle on it, it can boil water. The GPS has been around for close to 40 years and it was first integrated into a cell phone in '99.
The reason you might get an incorrect result is that you iDevice can get a location from three sources, WiFi networks, cell towers and the GPS. GPS is the most precise but has a long cold start and if you're indoors you might not be able to get a lock on satellite signals. That's why the blue circle around the dot changes size, based on the estimated precision of the data. The smaller the circle, the more precise the data is.

Oh, and location based on WiFi is surprisingly accurate in some places. So the reason you're getting an incorrect location at home might be because you're stealing your neighbor's WiFi ;)

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Originally Posted by moonman239

Note that you should not rely on this. At home, my phone has been known to think my address is my neighbor's address.

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Given the inaccuracy of Apple Maps, you should consider yourself lucky that it didn't put you in the wrong county.

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Originally Posted by baja_yu

How is that a trick? That's the most basic feature of any device that has a GPS. To tell you where you are. Even my old Nokia E63 could do that. It's like saying, see this stove over here? If you put a kettle on it, it can boil water. The GPS has been around for close to 40 years and it was first integrated into a cell phone in '99.

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But how many of those devices made it this easy to figure out the address of the place you're located at?

Edit: I should add that you don't have to open Maps either. Just ask Siri where you are.

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Originally Posted by moonman239

But how many of those devices made it this easy to figure out the address of the place you're located at?

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You're right, just looking at the map and seeing which street you're closest to is much harder than looking at the map and seeing the phone display a popup listing the street you're closest to. Plus, just because you're closest to a street doesn't mean you are on that street. Property addressing usually works based on where the entrance to a property is. So visual identification would be more precise.

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Originally Posted by moonman239

Edit: I should add that you don't have to open Maps either. Just ask Siri where you are.

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That's going to save people valuable seconds in situations that come up once every few years.

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That's going to save people valuable seconds in situations that come up once every few years.

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I like my valuable seconds, thank-you very much.