# Why can't Uber use customer's phone to put the pin in the right location?



## Sal29 (Jul 27, 2014)

I've had drunk passengers put their pin in the ocean before and put it miles away from their location as well. It would be nice if the UBER app could use pings from cell phone towers to triangulate the customer's location or the gps in the customer's phone to get their exact location.


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## grams777 (Jun 13, 2014)

There should ideally be some type of flag or text to at least warn the driver of a location placement issue.

This could be triggered when the riders gps accuracy radius is wider than a few hundred feet. Or, when the pin has been moved from the actual location. Or, when the rider moves more than a certain amount after the request. Or, when the system detects that multiple customers have open ride requests in the same vicinity (wrong passenger pickup potential).

It seems all of these could be automated rather easily and cut down on a number of common problems.


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## LAuberX (Jun 3, 2014)

I call the symptom "too drunk to Uber"

The reality is when you first turn on the app it does not always have the location right.

It does always display the address you are calling the car to, I'm afraid too many rush the process and fail to verify it.


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## grams777 (Jun 13, 2014)

LAuberX said:


> I call the symptom "too drunk to Uber"
> 
> The reality is when you first turn on the app it does not always have the location right.
> 
> It does always display the address you are calling the car to, I'm afraid too many rush the process and fail to verify it.


It's probably pulling a fuzzy gps location that hasn't had time to stabilize. The app is likely aware of this because the accuracy radius should also be reported as very large. A later more accurate reading (a very narrow accuracy radius) may also happen after the request is made. Somehow this information should be better utilized or at least passed on to the driver if the rider can't be bothered for simplicity and speeds sake.


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## getemtheresafely (Jul 1, 2014)

Sal29 said:


> It would be nice if the UBER app could use pings from cell phone towers to triangulate the customer's location or the gps in the customer's phone to get their exact location.


As soon as the rider turns the app on, depending on the strength of signal their GPS is "fixed to their exact location" .....its when they start "messing with the drop pin" is where the majority of miscalculated pick-up locations occur (more-so when alcohol is a factor)


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## Moofish (Jun 13, 2014)

I've noticed too, when opening the app its not at your location and I get several wrong pick up locations every night.

There is a crosshair button which will move the pin to your current location, but I'm assuming most riders don't even know about it. An easy fix would be if opening the app would auto locate you.

There's the rare case where someone orders a ride for someone else, but those are special cases.


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## UberSonic (Jul 22, 2014)

I've had a few where they laid the pin where they intended to go, rather than where they were. Some sort of confirmation should be required if the pin is placed away from the GPS location (Valid if you are requesting a ride to get a friend to you, for example). Also even if the pin is on the GPS location, it should ensure there is sufficient accuracy, and have the user confirm if they are in an area that gets low accuracy (like inside a large building or in among a lot of tall buildings).


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## MJP (Jul 1, 2014)

a few times I've seen the icon in the alley. I know they are not in the alley so I don't know where they are. I call at that point.


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## Raider (Jul 25, 2014)

The rider DOES have a GPS location on their app, it's called the "Pin Location" all they have to do is click "Go To Pin" and it's pretty accurate. If you move your fingers around on the map you'll place it elsewhere very easily, esp when drunk.


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## UberSonic (Jul 22, 2014)

Yeah, but depending on the phone, and where they're located. GPS lock may not be down at app launch, and cause the initial pin to be inaccurate.


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## Tim In Cleveland (Jul 28, 2014)

[QUOTE="UberSonic, post: 11462, member: 663".... Some sort of confirmation should be required if the pin is placed away from the GPS location....[/QUOTE]
Great idea! Please submit this to support to add in a future update.


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## Crownan (Jul 28, 2014)

The thing I hate most about Uber rider app is if you moved the pin, even a little bit, the next time you open the app (without a force close or restart of phone) the pin will still be in that spot even though you are miles away.

I spend about 25% of my rides explaining to hit the "gps" button to center the pin over your current location.

I think if the pin just "reset" every time you open the app a lot of the problems would go away.


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## Tim In Cleveland (Jul 28, 2014)

I agree! The software needs a rewrite. Our customers are DRUNK. They can't handle moving a pin. They should not see a map when they open the software. They should see two huge boxes and the question: "Would you like to be picked up where you are"? YES NO. If they are positive they need to be picked up elsewhere, they should be pushed to enter an address. The pin should only come in to play if they don't know the address of where they need to be picked up.
I've had people stick the pin a block away, even 5 miles away. Do I get paid for going to the wrong address they supplied? NO. Is this lost income for both Uber and me? YES.


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## Jeff212 (Aug 1, 2014)

Many people use their Uber account to pick up or give their kid a ride somewhere and they are nowhere near the pin drop location, normally they have called me to let me know who I am picking up and even where I am taking them.... Just picked up a guys wife who didn't speak very good English because she broke down and he was too far to get to her.....


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## OriginalGeek (Aug 4, 2014)

Because an Uber account holder can summon a car to a different location, for example, to pick up a friend or employee.


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## Lyft4uDC (Jul 28, 2014)

shouldn't the rider have say, a small text input where they can say "hey driver, im paying but you're picking up xxxx at the pins address" before he can request a ride? makes it easier.


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## Mimzy (Jun 10, 2014)

I regularly get some good customers that text while I'm en-route to verify where they are at. Tall building / hotels can throw the GPS off a block or two. It's nice when they confirm they are at the Sheraton, Etc. If I see a pickup icon in the middle of the street an odd alley or where I know there is nothing - I call to confirm en-route.


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## troubleinrivercity (Jul 27, 2014)

A lot of times riders are moving the pin for our benefit, that is to make it easier to find them. For 4/5 passengers, I know who it is I'm picking up from two blocks away, since they're on a corner and standing still looking at their phone.


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## OriginalGeek (Aug 4, 2014)

AGPS in a phone is not accurate in all situations. Case in point, any time I get paged to the 8700 block of De Longpre, the passenger is actually on Sunset at The Mondrian. This has happened to me too many times to be drunk dialing, and mostly, the passengers I pick up at that spot are not wasted.


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## troubleinrivercity (Jul 27, 2014)

Mimzy said:


> I regularly get some good customers that text while I'm en-route to verify where they are at. Tall building / hotels can throw the GPS off a block or two. It's nice when they confirm they are at the Sheraton, Etc. If I see a pickup icon in the middle of the street an odd alley or where I know there is nothing - I call to confirm en-route.


Yeah the app doesn't work downtown here, you've gotta go by address and remember exactly where the feet were when plugging it into your real gps. Downtown is a pretty big area.


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## Allaffair (Jul 21, 2014)

Yes I highly doubt it is a drunk issue, I find myself having to call the rider because they are not at the location of the pin.


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