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Improve iPhone's 'Locate Me' Accuracy
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I got the same thing, but no more than 5 mins later (probably closer to 2 mins) i was able to locate myself on my iPod Touch in an area that had previously had no mapped locations.
I am going to be doing this every where I go around town now
Google around, and you'll find several older public volunteer projects that collected WiFi hotspots and/or cell tower locations, and had programs for it.
Skyhook decided to make a business out of doing so. But at least they did much or all of their own data collection. (There are lots of places they haven't surveyed yet. I also gave them my hotspot info months ago, but it's never gone in.)
Google collected cell tower information in a much lazier way. They secretly collect tower info each time someone uses Google Maps Mobile on a phone with a real GPS chip in it.
The software license for Google Maps on the iPhone or any phone, states that Google is allowed to anonymously collect your location information, and even display in realtime the location of all phones currently making searches.
Skyhook decided to make a business out of doing so. But at least they did much or all of their own data collection. (There are lots of places they haven't surveyed yet. I also gave them my hotspot info months ago, but it's never gone in.)
Google collected cell tower information in a much lazier way. They secretly collect tower info each time someone uses Google Maps Mobile on a phone with a real GPS chip in it.
The software license for Google Maps on the iPhone or any phone, states that Google is allowed to anonymously collect your location information, and even display in realtime the location of all phones currently making searches.
That would mean Skyhook doesn't know about the hotspots around you, and so your phone reverts to displaying the location of the cell tower you're using.
Skyhook's surveyed coverage is here:
http://skyhookwireless.com/howitworks/coverage.php
(Along with a new bunch of photos showing them surveying Europe.)
I gave skyhook my wireless router details the day the thread started and it was in the system with in a week.
It used to located me within a 3-4 mile area, now with in a few meters.
It used to located me within a 3-4 mile area, now with in a few meters.
Interesting. Are you surrounded by other hotspots? Are you in a surveyed area?
I'm thinking the reason they didn't take my info, is because I'm not in a surveyed area, and thus they have no way to check on the data.
(They say that their code checks for nearby hotspots to "self-heal" their database.)
No, I live in a residential area with marginal cell phone coverage. But I may be in a surveyed area as my house is pictured in the Google maps ground pics.
Well I entered my information, and no more than 5 minutes later it moved closer but its still about 2.5 miles away from my house (center of cross-hair). I'll try again later I guess.
I sniffed out four or five routers around my house and reported their MAC addresses more than a month ago. Locate ME continues to "locate me" one county, three cities, and 3.66 miles west of my actual location. If I go about 150 feet in any direction, it zeroes onto my location within ten feet or so. Anyone have a theory about that? The mis-location happens with wi-fi on, and with wi-fi off.
I don't think that's what they mean. I'm in an "unsurveyed area" and they've taken many submissions of mine. Sometimes when the access points don't show up, I use a different email address to re-submit them and then they go through. I wonder if they have a spam filter...
Anyway, when they say their database is "self healing," I think they mean that in a urban or high-density surveyed area, a single router with an anomalous geotag is eradicated from the database if its geolocation doesn't match the majority of the routers around it. In other words, if one router is marked as being located in Duluth, but shows up near 100 other routers marked as Santa Fe, they'll temporarily remove the Duluth one from their database and force a re-scan.
One more point of interest. My access points show up fine with Skyhook's Loki add-on for (the dreaded) Firefox, but not immediately on my friend's iPhone. In fact, I'm still not sure they show up there. Skyhook's website said it depends on the partner (in this case, Apple) in how long it takes them to update to the newest version of the Skyhook database. Also, my submissions don't show up on their coverage map, so they must not update that very often.
I agree. That's what I meant, but must not have been clear since I was mixing it with other stuff.
I submitted my info again, but no joy yet on WM Google or iPhone. Good tip to try Loki.
Cheers - Kev
Yes, I answered you above, at May 17, 2008, 10:20 PM
and i appreciate that. but your reply didn't seem to address a couple questions. IF the system's reverting only to cellphone towers, why does that system locate me so far from my actual location? Worse, why would that same system precisely report the location of my iphone if i walk 150 feet in any direction from my home? My home's in the coverage area indicated on skyhook's map, by the way.
This failure-to-perform isn't killing me, though it undermines confidence in use of the system anywhere else i travel. And it's become something of an intellectual (too grand a term, I know) exercise to figure out why it's happening.
peace
td
Because, as I said, the cell tower method simply gives the location of the tower you're currently using... not your location. No triangulation involved. Obviously that tower is a few miles away.
Some people have a weirder situation. They can walk across their office and get hooked to a different tower. Thus their "location" jumps many miles!
Because you're walking close enough to a mapped hotspot(s), that it will use it (them) to actually triangulate YOUR location... instead of just reporting some remote tower's location as explained above.
Cheers - Kev