I've been having a hard time with my google maps the last few weeks. I have a brand new Huawei P20 Pro. The GPS is significantly off on my Google maps and I keep getting a message to calibrate my maps using the figure 7 motion. I try this multiple times and it does not work. I've tried uninstalling and re-downloading, restarting my phone but nothing is working. The GPS is just off. I've had no luck finding resources online. Anyone else having issues? Do you have any advice for me? I rely heavily on my maps as I have vision loss and am fairly directionally challenged. I really enjoy this app and would hate to have to switch to another one. Thanks in advance!
Google updated the direction indicator way back in the heady days of 2019, changing it from a simple arrow to an indicator that looks more like a flashlight “guiding your travels”. The beam of the flashlight narrows if the phone is sure of where you’re looking, and conversely widens if it’s not so sure — hence the confusion of your current direction. If it’s really wide, that generally means your magnometer sensor needs calibrating, and since the magnometer inside the phone is prone to interference from chargers, metal objects, and even other magnometers, it’s worth doing a calibration every now and again to keep it up to speed.
On your Android phone or tablet, open the Google Maps app . Make a figure 8 until your compass is calibrated. The beam should become narrow and point in the right direction.