Expected Android GPS Accuracy

Assuming clear view of satellites, what accuracy in开发者_Go百科 meters can I expect from GPS on Android Devices?

Is it different for network vs gps location providers?

In theory you can get within 5 meters if you have a good fix from GPS however that will likely vary from device to device.

It will most definitely vary based on whether you're using the GPS or the network. Network triangulation can only provide accuracy to within several hundred, sometimes thousand meters -- it's rough at best. Regular GPS can theoretically provide a location to within 5 meters, and 1 meter with data augmentation (WAAS or DGPS for example).

The "open sky" accuracy is not only different from one Android phone model to another; even different handsets of the same model with the same Android version and software can have different GPS performance. At work I have access to two Samsung Galaxy S phones, one of which gets a GPS fix significantly faster and in significantly worse signal conditions than the other. This could be due to manufacturing differences in the GPS chip, or antenna connection, or assembly process. Whether the phone is moving or stationary also influences the accuracy, and big errors in the first fix can take minutes to disappear as the GPS position converges to the correct solution.