iPod touch How To: Make Your Home Wi-Fi Network Work With The "Locate Me" Feature on Your Touch!

pismodude2 · Sep 16, 2008

http://www.skyhookwireless.com/howitworks/submit_ap.php

Skyhook Wireless is the company that is behind the iPod Touch's Wi-Fi location services. They map out Wi-Fi networks and their locations based on the MAC address, which is the wireless router's ID number/letter combination (Example: 00-1C-10-30-97-00). However, they usually don't add home networks and obviously if have set up a wireless new network or live in a remote area (away from the 'big cities') they haven't or won't ever add you themselves.

But don't give up hope:

You simply need to follow that link above, center your current location on the map shown, and add the MAC address of the wireless network in that location (it should be on the bottom of your router or in your network settings/preferences).

In two weeks or less, they will add your network's location and you can use all of those location based apps as they were meant to be used! Hope this helps!

gusto5 · Sep 16, 2008

Should throw this into the ipod touch FAQ...that doesn't exist =D

sgtboy · Sep 16, 2008

Did that 6 months ago, still nothing

mavis · Sep 16, 2008

Wirelessly posted (iPhone 3G (16GB, 2.1 PWNed): Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5F136 Safari/525.20)

I did this too (in June) and still, nothing. Heck of a backlog over there?

4DThinker · Sep 16, 2008

I'll throw in another vote for "Did that 6 months ago, no effect yet".

Lesser Evets · Sep 16, 2008

I just added it and it's up on the site already....

j/k.
Hope it will be up there SOMETIME, tho.

pismodude2 · Sep 16, 2008

I hate to say it, but there is no way it wouldn't have worked if you entered everything correctly. Either it will work within two weeks, or it didn't work at all. Make sure to get the MAC address from the bottom of your router, there are a lot of different numbers, and I know it's easy to get confused. If you have to, you can enter all of the numbers- you won't get in trouble

I actually entered like five different numbers because I wasn't sure which one it was, and for the first two it said they were invalid. One of the other three must have worked, however, because less than two weeks later my Touch told me where I was!

Keep Trying! :apple:

You can do it!

macchappy · Sep 16, 2008

I just use iStumbler to find my MAC address, so I don't have to muck around with all of the different possibilities.

4DThinker · Sep 17, 2008

pismodude2 said:
I hate to say it, but there is no way it wouldn't have worked if you entered everything correctly.

Although it may require more than just your one mac address in their database for your Touch to locate you. I know my router's mac address was entered correctly. I know my map location on their map was correct. Yet sitting 6 feet from my router my Touch still cannot find me. For what it's worth, it also finds no other wifi signals. My theory is that the Touch needs at least two known signals for a reasonable location attempt. If my neighbors don't sign up, and the skyhook truck doesn't drive down my street, I'll remain having to tell my Touch where I am.

pismodude2 · Sep 17, 2008

4DThinker said:
Although it may require more than just your one mac address in their database for your Touch to locate you. I know my router's mac address was entered correctly. I know my map location on their map was correct. Yet sitting 6 feet from my router my Touch still cannot find me. For what it's worth, it also finds no other wifi signals. My theory is that the Touch needs at least two known signals for a reasonable location attempt. If my neighbors don't sign up, and the skyhook truck doesn't drive down my street, I'll remain having to tell my Touch where I am.

It works for me, and only one network shows up (most of the time) when I search for Wi-Fi. Just keep trying- I know it definitely works!!

mrpalmer420 · Sep 17, 2008

I think i have it worse then my touch not knowing where i ma. My touch says that i am in Hong Kong even though i am in New Jersey. (oh and the big city thing doesn't really matter because i am only about 40 mile from NYC and it still has no clue).

Well i have no clue where to eat around here using urban spoon but damn if i don't know some great Steak houses in Hong Kong.

mkrishnan · Sep 17, 2008

Does the SSID have to be broadcast for Skyhook to use a WiFi AP?

pismodude2 · Sep 17, 2008

mrpalmer420 said:
I think i have it worse then my touch not knowing where i ma. My touch says that i am in Hong Kong even though i am in New Jersey. (oh and the big city thing doesn't really matter because i am only about 40 mile from NYC and it still has no clue).

Well i have no clue where to eat around here using urban spoon but damn if i don't know some great Steak houses in Hong Kong.

Trust me- if you simply re-report your location it will work. They used to think I was in Massachusetts, but two weeks after I told them my MAC address and my location they added me in the right spot. Works awesome!

mkrishnan said:
Does the SSID have to be broadcast for Skyhook to use a WiFi AP?

All they need is the MAC address of your router. It is hard wired into your router, so it can't be changed and the name of the access point (SSID) doesn't affect it at all.

One more time, give them:

1. Your MAC address

2. Your address

SoldOutMatinee · Sep 17, 2008

Interesting. I shall be doing this when I get home today. I got my iPod Touch yesterday and I was playing with the "locate me" and it said I lived on the other side of town. Las Vegas is not a tiny city so I don't know why it's not locating me yet.

Actually, every time I restart my iPod and do the locate me it gives me different locations every time. I can forgive it for not locating me properly but at least try to be consistent in your mistakes, skyhook/ipod...

bogart · Sep 17, 2008

works without that

I live in the UK, in a village. My location button seems to work with my router and I didn't do any of this posting information to that company stuff.

andy

jmann · Sep 17, 2008

Why does anyone care if the iPod touch knows where your house is? Obviously you know where you are, so why do you need the touch to reassure you

. Seems like a gimicky feature to me.

But it is nice that you figured out how to add your house if you wanted. Thanks for letting us know

SoldOutMatinee · Sep 17, 2008

jmann4489 said:
Why does anyone care if the iPod touch knows where your house is? Obviously you know where you are, so why do you need the touch to reassure you. Seems like a gimicky feature to me.

But it is nice that you figured out how to add your house if you wanted. Thanks for letting us know

directions. that's why. it's much easier if you tap "locate me" so you don't have to put in your location manually.

pismodude2 · Sep 17, 2008

jmann4489 said:
Why does anyone care if the iPod touch knows where your house is? Obviously you know where you are, so why do you need the touch to reassure you. Seems like a gimicky feature to me.

Although some of the better location-based apps let you enter your location manually, most of them, such as UrbanSpoon, have a limited amount of cities to choose from on that list (basically capitals and very large cities).

If your Touch knows where you are, all of those apps will work with your current location. Take me for instance- I live a small suburb, and my location cannot be added manually. Now, however, because the locate me works, I can use any location-based app to look up stuff only in my local area (which I couldn't have done otherwise).

Now do you get why anyone would care?

basaltfd · Sep 17, 2008

dumb

im in aspen area colorado
my touch says im in denevr area?

Eric Isaacson · Sep 17, 2008

I'm trying this again. I did it once before I believe at the end of July and it still does not show my location, but maybe I screwed it up.

Eric

Dale Sorel · Sep 21, 2008

pismodude2 said:
In two weeks or less, they will add your network's location and you can use all of those location based apps as they were meant to be used! Hope this helps!

Wow, thanks so much for this great tip! I just did your setup about a week ago and it's already working. I can finally use the location service to locate myself and to map distances from home

seamustry · Sep 21, 2008

it works for me although sometimes it shows the right location and sometimes it shows me my old house (from where i moved about 4 months ago)

0098386 · Sep 21, 2008

I tried adding it but the map just threw me to strange corners of the world. Doesn't work off postcodes or counties?

11800506 · Sep 21, 2008

I did this when the service came out and can confirm that it worked for me in a couple of weeks.

mkrishnan · Sep 21, 2008

raggedjimmi said:
I tried adding it but the map just threw me to strange corners of the world. Doesn't work off postcodes or counties?

It should accept whatever means you would use to tell Google Maps your location -- that is, if Google Maps would find you when you typed that into its bar, the Skyhook applet should also.

Alternatively, you can locate to something nearby like your town and country, and then drag the pin to your actual location....

iPod touch How To: Make Your Home Wi-Fi Network Work With The "Locate Me" Feature on Your Touch!

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