Skyhook's Wi-Fi Location Technology for iPhone/iPod touch
USAToday profiles Skyhook Wireless who helps provide some of the technology behind Apple's new GPS-like location features in the iPhone and iPod Touch's Google Maps application.
Skyhook Wireless was formed in 2003 and uses a database of Wi-Fi hotspots to determine your geographic location. The process is explained:
While Wi-Fi hotspots are detected based on these signals, no direct connection is made to them. To seed the system with data, Skyhook sent teams of drives around the US and Canada to map out hotspots. They say they have 70% of North America covered, and are currently adding Europe and Asia. Unlike GPS, Skyhook's system works better indoors and in urban settings.
Of interest, Skyhook generally receives a payment per device sold with the technology, and this fee may be built into the fee Apple is charging for the iPod touch software update. For the iPhone, Apple starts with Skyhook's Wifi database first, and if unable to find a hotspot, it then falls back to using less-precise cellular tower information provided by Google.
A company called Navizon had provided very similar technology for iPhone users as an unofficial 3rd party application.
Skyhook Wireless was formed in 2003 and uses a database of Wi-Fi hotspots to determine your geographic location. The process is explained:
"Every Wi-Fi access point, whether public or private, sends out a signal every second or so, like a lighthouse. We pick up those signals and use our technology to calculate your exact location."
While Wi-Fi hotspots are detected based on these signals, no direct connection is made to them. To seed the system with data, Skyhook sent teams of drives around the US and Canada to map out hotspots. They say they have 70% of North America covered, and are currently adding Europe and Asia. Unlike GPS, Skyhook's system works better indoors and in urban settings.
Of interest, Skyhook generally receives a payment per device sold with the technology, and this fee may be built into the fee Apple is charging for the iPod touch software update. For the iPhone, Apple starts with Skyhook's Wifi database first, and if unable to find a hotspot, it then falls back to using less-precise cellular tower information provided by Google.
A company called Navizon had provided very similar technology for iPhone users as an unofficial 3rd party application.
Top Rated Comments
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53 months ago
that's pretty cool, thank goodness i didnt have to pay for my iphone update
53 months ago
Poor Navizon. Its entire product has casually been built-in to Google Maps and they're still charging for it.
53 months ago
that's pretty cool, thank goodness i didnt have to pay for my iphone update
well, actually, since apple gets $20/month out of your AT&T plan . . . you are paying for the software update . . .
53 months ago
Poor Navizon. Its entire product has casually been built-in to Google Maps and they're still charging for it.
yeah and the 3rd-party program "Locate-me" does a better job at cell tower approximation anyway.What I'm wondering is how exactly they are mapping the WiFi access points. Do they simply go by SSID or do they try to get the MAC address or something a little more identifiable?
example: Hey look, my home WiFi network is called "White House", I must be in Washington DC.
53 months ago
They don't go by name, they have all those wifi hotspots pinned everywhere, when you do get maps, it gets wifi/cellular towers around you, retrieves data from the company, then gives you an approximate location of where you are.
53 months ago
Interesting approach.
More info:
http://www.skyhookwireless.com/howitworks/
Coverage:
http://www.skyhookwireless.com/howitworks/coverage.php
More info:
http://www.skyhookwireless.com/howitworks/
Coverage:
http://www.skyhookwireless.com/howitworks/coverage.php
53 months ago
but i still dont see how this is any help to ipod touch owners?
ok it sweet that they have this technology to use on maps but u have to have a wifi signal first before you can even load the map
ok it sweet that they have this technology to use on maps but u have to have a wifi signal first before you can even load the map
53 months ago
Wi-Fi based locations, are you kidding me?
I live in a college town, where lots of folks have WiFi base stations and lots of folks move around every year. The same day the location feature was released it was out of date. I got my location in my apartment where I've lived for three years with my own WiFi network, and it gave me error bounds of something like 30 or 50 feet to a location that was well over a mile away. Know why? Because it picked a WiFi network that used to be located where it said.
Oh, no, wait, I just bought an Apple Gigabit-Ethernet Airport base station two months ago, I guess I missed the boat. Besides, here the airport signal doesn't make it all the way out to the road, it's not like anyone who comes to visit me will ever really know where they are.
I'm hoping for a Tom Tom plug in GPS module.
On the other hand, this weekend, I was using the locate feature with the cell-phone network and although it gave me error bounds at something like a mile (I don't really know, because, of course, Maps has no scale!) I was easily able to find my location.
I think this WiFi location-based thing is a bad idea, but if they were putting it in the iPhone I guess they had to give iPod Touch users something so they could charge for Maps.
I live in a college town, where lots of folks have WiFi base stations and lots of folks move around every year. The same day the location feature was released it was out of date. I got my location in my apartment where I've lived for three years with my own WiFi network, and it gave me error bounds of something like 30 or 50 feet to a location that was well over a mile away. Know why? Because it picked a WiFi network that used to be located where it said.
Oh, no, wait, I just bought an Apple Gigabit-Ethernet Airport base station two months ago, I guess I missed the boat. Besides, here the airport signal doesn't make it all the way out to the road, it's not like anyone who comes to visit me will ever really know where they are.
I'm hoping for a Tom Tom plug in GPS module.
On the other hand, this weekend, I was using the locate feature with the cell-phone network and although it gave me error bounds at something like a mile (I don't really know, because, of course, Maps has no scale!) I was easily able to find my location.
I think this WiFi location-based thing is a bad idea, but if they were putting it in the iPhone I guess they had to give iPod Touch users something so they could charge for Maps.
53 months ago
but i still dont see how this is any help to ipod touch owners?
ok it sweet that they have this technology to use on maps but u have to have a wifi signal first before you can even load the map
haha, hadn't thought about that :)
53 months ago
What I don't get is that it seems like you don't need to be connected to the various WiFi networks to get a read on where you are, but yet - it doesn't work like that. I'm in an area with 3 or 4 private access points (I can see them when I go into settings) - but yet it still won't "locate me" on my iPTouch.
"Every Wi-Fi access point, whether public or private, sends out a signal every second or so, like a lighthouse. We pick up those signals and use our technology to calculate your exact location."
"Every Wi-Fi access point, whether public or private, sends out a signal every second or so, like a lighthouse. We pick up those signals and use our technology to calculate your exact location."
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