Why is my Android fetching http://xtra3.gpsonextra.net/xtra.bin upon start? I notice my HTC Desire fetches http://xtra3.gpsonextra.net/xtra.bin when it boots (and before I enter the PIN).

What is that ?

Here's the HTTP Request sent:


GET /xtra.bin HTTP/1.1
Accept: */*, application/vnd.wap.mms-message, application/vnd.wap.sic
x-wap-profile: http://www.openmobilealliance.org/tech/profiles/UAPROF/ccppschema-20021212#
Host: xtra3.gpsonextra.net
Connection: Keep-Alive
User-Agent: Android
That is done by gpsd. The XTRA files are the current GPS Almanac. The location of where to download the XTRA files to is defined in /system/etc/gps.conf.

These files contain data that speed up the GPS, which will result in faster GPS position fixes.