He turned off wireless on his iPhone and tried it again with just EDGE enabled - it showed the correct location and was fairly accurate. He then turned wireless back on and tried again, it was showing the correct address this time and was very accurate.
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Google Maps Locate Button Scarily Accurate (UK)!
- Thread starter dombookpro
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He turned off wireless on his iPhone and tried it again with just EDGE enabled - it showed the correct location and was fairly accurate. He then turned wireless back on and tried again, it was showing the correct address this time and was very accurate.
As Steve mentioned in his Keynote, the Maps Locate features uses both Cell Tower Triangulation and WiFi hotspot mapping. The WiFi part of it is from a company named Skyhook. They've had their employees "war drive" around hundreds of major cities with WiFi sniffers and GPS receivers recording the exact coordinates of various WiFi signals. They've matched the unique MAC addresses of millions of WiFi spots with exact GPS coordinates.
You can easily test if your iPhone is using WiFi to help locate you. Simply turn off WiFi in the iPhone and try locate again. If the circled area gets much larger and isn't as accurate, there can be little doubt that it used a WiFi spot at your location or near you to make the circled area smaller.
In my case (at home), with WiFi on the iPhone off, the Locate Circle is about 1 mile across and my house is about 2-3 blocks southeast of the center of the circle. Not all that accurate.
When I turn WiFi on, however, the Locate Circle shrinks to just two blocks across and if I drop a Pin in the center of the circle it lands EXACTLY on my house (including landing on the correct side of the street).
I've been using the same home Airport network for 2-3 years. So, obviously, the folks at Skyhook drove past my house and sniffed out is MAC address at some point.
OR... Perhaps Apple, in working with Skyhook, is using THEIR OWN DATABASE of registered Apple Products to match the registered owner's Airport MAC address with the owner's registered street address?
In either case, it will be interesting to see how accurate Locate is when I replace my 3 year old Airport Extreme with the new Time Capsule that I've already ordered!
Mark
You can easily test if your iPhone is using WiFi to help locate you. Simply turn off WiFi in the iPhone and try locate again. If the circled area gets much larger and isn't as accurate, there can be little doubt that it used a WiFi spot at your location or near you to make the circled area smaller.
In my case (at home), with WiFi on the iPhone off, the Locate Circle is about 1 mile across and my house is about 2-3 blocks southeast of the center of the circle. Not all that accurate.
When I turn WiFi on, however, the Locate Circle shrinks to just two blocks across and if I drop a Pin in the center of the circle it lands EXACTLY on my house (including landing on the correct side of the street).
I've been using the same home Airport network for 2-3 years. So, obviously, the folks at Skyhook drove past my house and sniffed out is MAC address at some point.
OR... Perhaps Apple, in working with Skyhook, is using THEIR OWN DATABASE of registered Apple Products to match the registered owner's Airport MAC address with the owner's registered street address?
In either case, it will be interesting to see how accurate Locate is when I replace my 3 year old Airport Extreme with the new Time Capsule that I've already ordered!
Mark
Mine too. I'm near Bristol. Even when I switch off wifi I got the same message. Good start - really impressed!
Here's a map of coverage. You can scroll to see UK etc.
http://www.skyhookwireless.com/howitworks/coverage.php
http://www.skyhookwireless.com/howitworks/coverage.php
it refuses to work here in portsmouth, i have to to southampton tomorrow anyway(apple store ) as due to another issue apples said my hardware is faulty. ill try it there and on the way
well that explains it then.. if the iphone is ONLY relying on skyhooks data.. then I'll not be located when i'm in reading.. or any place near there (except for the small blue dot near Thilehurst).. london looks pretty well covered... I would have been able to test that tomorrow.. but now not heading into london... and whats with the coverage of Newbury!?!? since when did Newbury get a technological upgrade over Reading??
First time I tried it said I couldnt be found. Then it said I live in Amman (Jordan) the third attempt got me within 3 miles of my location.
Neat feature that the Skyhook database automatically updates i.e. if it locates you by a known AP it adds the SSIDs of any other APs your iPhone can see at that location to the database: similarly if you're in range of a previously known SSID but the other known ones nearby are different (e.g. you've moved house), it updates the location of the known SSID to match.
What would be neat would be if you could user-submit i.e. send them your SSID and MAC address with the GPS coordinates of your location (or if hotspot providers e.g. the Cloud could do that). Might save them some driving.
What would be neat would be if you could user-submit i.e. send them your SSID and MAC address with the GPS coordinates of your location (or if hotspot providers e.g. the Cloud could do that). Might save them some driving.
I was weirded out when I first did it yesterday. Loved it but weirded out....not sure why but to think it knew where I was....was cool
While at work though it is not that accurate as the circle is much, much bigger
While at work though it is not that accurate as the circle is much, much bigger
So i'm the only one who's current location thing is completely off?
I get 5 bars from my house, not using wifi, but it pin points it right on a street about 5 miles from here. Not even close.
I get 5 bars from my house, not using wifi, but it pin points it right on a street about 5 miles from here. Not even close.
If using EDGE, apparently that's because there's only one tower near you and that's its location. Or there's two and there's no way to triangulate.
For those using WiFi, it's often because someone's hotspot nearby was mapped as being elsewhere before they moved next to you.
Is your WiFi radio turned off? It doesn't have to connect to use WiFi if it's on.
my location now suddenly seems to have started working... although first two tries put me in the Alaskan Ocean, just above greenland... which is a bit of a distance from the south of the UK, Reading...!!!
with wifi on.. i'm either there.. in the ocean... or 4 streets away from where I actually am...
still it's a step in the right direction.. kinda
with wifi on.. i'm either there.. in the ocean... or 4 streets away from where I actually am...
still it's a step in the right direction.. kinda