Accuracy of smartphone location data in the city

The SMANCY project examined the position accuracy of smartphone sensors in urban areas in several tests.

In the course of the experiments, all sensor data available on the smartphone were recorded by means of the app. At the same time, a D-GPS system was connected to the app via Bluetooth and these benchmarks were also recorded. Thus, the log data contains all the necessary sensor data to determine the position accuracy and their references.

However, it is evident from the attempts that the (D-)GPS positioning is difficult especially in urban areas. The reflections of the GPS signals on the high buildings cause disturbances that cause inaccuracies of some more than 10 m. A sufficient position determination for collision detection between two participants is not possible according to the current state of the smartphone technology.

The recorded sensor data is the raw data from the smartphone sensor technology. They are used to illustrate the inaccuracies of sensor technology. The attached example in the Python script language shows the processing and visualisation of sensor data.