maxsimkammerer Posted April 24, 2014 Share #1 Posted April 24, 2014 Advertisement (gone after registration) I intend to buy a MF-Grip ... but it seems that Leica has locked the GPS in some regions (Cuba, China ..). Is there a workaround/hack ? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted April 24, 2014 Posted April 24, 2014 Hi maxsimkammerer, Take a look here MF-Grip Geolocking. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
rsh Posted April 24, 2014 Share #2 Posted April 24, 2014 Go to a Non Communist Country where they do not block access? :-):-):-) Sorry, I couldn't resist! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
swamiji Posted April 24, 2014 Share #3 Posted April 24, 2014 But this does open the question, how much of the MF-hg code is in the M240 firmware and how much is in the grip it self. There are so many problems beside this GPS issue, how will Leica resolve them? Firmware or replacement? On a side note, what does Leica have against Communists. China is one of there largest markets. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rsh Posted April 24, 2014 Share #4 Posted April 24, 2014 I think the Chinese are the one's blocking access. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
swamiji Posted April 25, 2014 Share #5 Posted April 25, 2014 I think the Chinese are the one's blocking access. It is not possible for anyone to selectively block GPS. Every Taxi, Bus, Cellphone in China, has GPS. If you have a Canon, or Sony camera with GPS, it will work in China. GPS is not illegal in China. Only foreigners using GPS for the purpose of map making is Illegal. I think this is more of a business decision. Leica produces GPS based survey equipment for China. I think in the Leica Board room, there was some concern about GPS on personal devices vs their commercial equipment. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
marknorton Posted April 25, 2014 Share #6 Posted April 25, 2014 The Leica which produces surveying equipment is not the same Leica which produces cameras. It all dates back to when the company was split into three and the other two parts were subsequently taken over. It's interesting that Leica Camera does not even own the rights to use, still less modify, the Leica name and red dot logo. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
swamiji Posted April 25, 2014 Share #7 Posted April 25, 2014 Advertisement (gone after registration) Yes, they are split, but in China where policy overrides law, perception overrides everything. It can make a difference. So far, I have not found any other explanation, to take such draconian measures as Leica had done. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdlaing Posted April 25, 2014 Share #8 Posted April 25, 2014 Yes, they are split, but in China where policy overrides law, perception overrides everything. It can make a difference. So far, I have not found any other explanation, to take such draconian measures as Leica had done. Draconian? Leica chose not to pay an exorbitant license fee. Simple as that. Yes it is possible to block reception of GPS signals. The transmission Is what cannot be blocked. Easily that is. And as far as mapping goes GPS is old school. There are hyper accurate maps of every square inch of the planet accurate to 100mm. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
swamiji Posted April 26, 2014 Share #9 Posted April 26, 2014 Draconian? Leica chose not to pay an exorbitant license fee. Simple as that. Yes it is possible to block reception of GPS signals. The transmission Is what cannot be blocked. Easily that is. And as far as mapping goes GPS is old school. There are hyper accurate maps of every square inch of the planet accurate to 100mm. They charge $895 for something that does not work, that's exorbitant! The handgrip it's self says that the lack of GPS is for legal reasons. If you are correct then Leica is lying to us. You can block GPS one device at a time, but to block all devices, is not possible. Google maps puts an offset, so maps of china are inaccurate, however there are apps to correct for this. I wouldn't mind half as much if Leica put modest offset in the handgrips GPS, but to turn it off then to lie about it, to me is draconian. I teach in China, I have two classes of GIS students. I get my information direct. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdlaing Posted April 26, 2014 Share #10 Posted April 26, 2014 They charge $895 for something that does not work, that's exorbitant! The handgrip it's self says that the lack of GPS is for legal reasons. If you are correct then Leica is lying to us. You can block GPS one device at a time, but to block all devices, is not possible. Google maps puts an offset, so maps of china are inaccurate, however there are apps to correct for this. I wouldn't mind half as much if Leica put modest offset in the handgrips GPS, but to turn it off then to lie about it, to me is draconian. I teach in China, I have two classes of GIS students. I get my information direct. It is possible to block all GPS devices at once by the programming. The legal reasons are China required a payment which Leica would not accept for licensing. Simple. I don't blame Leica one bit for not submitting to a fee that is too high. If $895.00 is too high a price do not buy it. Use a hand held and enter the data n the exif. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
swamiji Posted April 26, 2014 Share #11 Posted April 26, 2014 It is possible to block all GPS devices at once by the programming. The legal reasons are China required a payment which Leica would not accept for licensing. Simple. I don't blame Leica one bit for not submitting to a fee that is too high. If $895.00 is too high a price do not buy it. Use a hand held and enter the data n the exif. Programming, all cell phones? All Leica GPS Survey equipment? All Sony Cameras? All Garmin GPS? The GPS that these are using is US GPS. Chinese has it's own system, but it's not implemented fully yet. The Multi Function Hand Grip, actually works in China, it's just Leica will not give you the data. When entering China the Hand Grip tells you so. Money is not a legal reason, it's an excuse. My bank will love this one, I cannot pay my mortgage this month due to legal reasons... No money... I purchased it on the way out of the States, I didn't know about the restriction until I was in China. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdlaing Posted April 26, 2014 Share #12 Posted April 26, 2014 Programming, all cell phones? All Leica GPS Survey equipment? All Sony Cameras? All Garmin GPS? The GPS that these are using is US GPS. Chinese has it's own system, but it's not implemented fully yet. The Multi Function Hand Grip, actually works in China, it's just Leica will not give you the data. When entering China the Hand Grip tells you so. Money is not a legal reason, it's an excuse. My bank will love this one, I cannot pay my mortgage this month due to legal reasons... No money... I purchased it on the way out of the States, I didn't know about the restriction until I was in China. Let's back up so you understand. Leica produced a grip with a built in GPS receiver. China said "if you want to use that device in this country you must pay us a fee" Leica said "the fee is way too high we will not pay it" China said "you cannot report or record or the data from our GPS system with the accuracy your device uses" Leica programmed the device to not report the data from a range of satellites. Period. End of story. Blame China. Not Leica. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
swamiji Posted April 26, 2014 Share #13 Posted April 26, 2014 Let's back up so you understand. Leica produced a grip with a built in GPS receiver. China said "if you want to use that device in this country you must pay us a fee" Leica said "the fee is way too high we will not pay it" China said "you cannot report or record or the data from our GPS system with the accuracy your device uses" Leica programmed the device to not report the data from a range of satellites. Period. End of story. Blame China. Not Leica. So you are saying the Leica has written off China for future growth? Sorry no sale. However if any part of it is true at all, then Leica is lying to it's customers. Thus either way, Leica's fault. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pico Posted April 26, 2014 Share #14 Posted April 26, 2014 You can block GPS one device at a time, but to block all devices, is not possible. It is easier to block all at once than to block only selected devices. Here is a good and rather scarey article. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
swamiji Posted April 27, 2014 Share #15 Posted April 27, 2014 It is easier to block all at once than to block only selected devices. Here is a good and rather scarey article. Yes, very scary. But to block an entire country, that would take massive power, especially on the size of China. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naper Posted April 27, 2014 Share #16 Posted April 27, 2014 The GPS in my V Lux 20 works in China. Perhaps its because it was produced by Panasonic. Never been to Cuba so I can't comment on it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
swamiji Posted April 29, 2014 Share #17 Posted April 29, 2014 Apparently the T does not have this issue, (per the manual). So the restriction appears to be limited... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxsimkammerer Posted April 29, 2014 Author Share #18 Posted April 29, 2014 So I summarise: 1) do not buy a MFGrip yet because of several issues, include geolocking; 2) the T, X ... work in China - therefore, this geolocking is a leicaish pre-emptive obedience. Right ? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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