How this works, how Navizon works.
Okay, as has been mentioned, this is *NOT* "GPS", which stands for "Global Positioning System", a 'constellation' of satellites orbiting the earth that just broadcast a time beacon. *THIS* is "Cell triangulation" or "WiFi approximation". Cell triangulation works on a similar principle to GPS, only using nearby cell towers whose physical locations are known. WiFi approximation is simply mapping out WiFi access points on a map, and if you're connected to an access point whose location is known, you're probably within 200 feet of that AP.
Navizon has a user-created database of cell towers and WiFi access points. The company isn't doing squat, as far as I can tell, it's all user generated. So if no users are in your area yet, there will be no data.
For example, the city of Portland, Oregon has a new public WiFi network going in whose AP locations are well documented, it should be theoretically possible to enter all those AP locations into Navizon's database, and as long as you're within the coverage of Portland's WiFi network, you should get a reasonably accurate location. Cell towers are harder, because someone has to manually enter those into a database using more obscure info than WiFi APs. (Navizon's database add interface has been down all day, so I can't find out, but I'm assuming that adding a WiFi access point should be as simple as "The internet connection I'm connected with is located *here*.")
Okay, as has been mentioned, this is *NOT* "GPS", which stands for "Global Positioning System", a 'constellation' of satellites orbiting the earth that just broadcast a time beacon. *THIS* is "Cell triangulation" or "WiFi approximation". Cell triangulation works on a similar principle to GPS, only using nearby cell towers whose physical locations are known. WiFi approximation is simply mapping out WiFi access points on a map, and if you're connected to an access point whose location is known, you're probably within 200 feet of that AP.
Navizon has a user-created database of cell towers and WiFi access points. The company isn't doing squat, as far as I can tell, it's all user generated. So if no users are in your area yet, there will be no data.
For example, the city of Portland, Oregon has a new public WiFi network going in whose AP locations are well documented, it should be theoretically possible to enter all those AP locations into Navizon's database, and as long as you're within the coverage of Portland's WiFi network, you should get a reasonably accurate location. Cell towers are harder, because someone has to manually enter those into a database using more obscure info than WiFi APs. (Navizon's database add interface has been down all day, so I can't find out, but I'm assuming that adding a WiFi access point should be as simple as "The internet connection I'm connected with is located *here*.")
