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Comment by euroderf | Hacker News Reader

A software complaint.

In mapping apps, why can't I get an indicator of where the sun is in the sky ? Then if there's no landmarks, or I'm at an awful intersection, or whatevs, I can use sun position to get oriented.

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I'd also like some sense of zoom. Like graticules of 1k or 10k; they could even change. If it makes the screen too busy, make it just ticks on the edges.

If you have a working phone, you have a compass though.

There are ephemeris apps for photography but not sure what that adds to just getting oriented with a compass, whether on your phone or a separate mechanical device.

In my experience, the compass can be totally backwards when you're around tall buildings.

It shouldn’t, unless your phone is placed against a magnet. The earth’s spinning magnetic core is the size of the moon. Those nearby buildings will not interfere with that.

The phone may be using GPS for headings instead of an actual compass causing it to act that way.

Why would it do that? Digital magnetometers are cheap, low power, and ubiquitous.

Some inexpensive phones don't include it due to cost reasons, it could also be bad software or a defective magnetometer in the unit.

And also, IME, completely unreliable. The compass in my car's sat nav never points north, and my phone's compass constantly needs recalibrating.

> It shouldn’t, unless your phone is placed against a magnet.

Phone cases with magnetic latches enter the room…

Also I'd like an option to keep North at the top unless & until I manually twist the map. Auto-orienting away from North is extremely unhelpful nearly all of the time.

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