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Cingular's Old Find Me Technology

As I recall this technology was much more precise on the old cel phones than Google's current technology on the iPhone. I tend to wonder why this is and if so then why Apple didn't incorporate it into the iPhone. I've noticed the maps aren't too accurate and don't trinagulate that well.
 
The location in London, UK is awesome for the most part...driving into london from my house I was able to get locations of roughly 30m diameter circle whenever I updated. Fantastic stuff. There's a lot of micro-cells there too (I have an iPhone) but there must be a fair bit of wifi involved to get the location as narrow as 30m circles!
 
So - is it possible to register your home Wi-Fi with them? I looked all over their site and I couldn't find anything. I'd like to register my location 1) so when I click it at home it'll zoom really far in and that'd be cool and 2) for any other iPhone users driving by to get a good reading. Right now the reading at my house is about half a mile off.

If somebody could provide a link that'd be great! Thanks
 
...All they keep in their database is lat/lon and the MAC of your access point....I've been emailing them corrections as I get them.

To get your latitude and longitude head to google maps and put in the address of your access point. After that put the following in your address bar to get your coordinates:

Code:
javascript:void(prompt('',gApplication.getMap().getCenter()));

Put in the coordintes back into a google maps search to make sure it's right. I usually have to tweak it a little to get it spot on.

Could you be more specific?
1) How do i find the MAC address for my router? I've googled the issue and the solutions i find are little applets that run in windows. How do I do it with a macbook, linksys xrs400 wireless router, and an airport express?
2) Describe again how to get coordinates, please. I found my location on google maps but can't convert to coordinates. Can you be more specific about where to put the line of code you describe?

thanks: Locate Me has worked well in some places but it locates my home one county, three cities, and six or seven miles away. From what i've read here, it sounds like one of my routers must have been there when Skyhook mapped it, though I have no idea how that could have happened. Or maybe my phone's finding a neighbor's signal rather than my own, even in my home. (?) In any case, i'd like to try a fix. Thanks.
 
Could you be more specific?
1) How do i find the MAC address for my router? I've googled the issue and the solutions i find are little applets that run in windows. How do I do it with a macbook, linksys xrs400 wireless router, and an airport express?

I use KisMAC though tools like iStumbler would work just as well. These kinds of apps list the wireless networks in range of your wireless card and display details about them. MAC address is one of those details. Your router's control panel should also have it's MAC address displayed somewhere. In the case of my AirPort Extreme base station the AirPort Utility shows the MAC address along with my SSID on it's main screen.

2) Describe again how to get coordinates, please. I found my location on google maps but can't convert to coordinates. Can you be more specific about where to put the line of code you describe?

I should have been more specific. :) After googling your address enter
Code:
javascript:void(prompt('',gApplication.getMap().getCenter()));
in your browser's address bar (where you usually enter web page URL's) and hit enter. That'll open a javascript popup with a text field containing your latitude and longitude coordinates. To make sure that's correct run a google maps search for those coordinates without the parenthesis. I usually have to tweak the coordinates a little to get them spot on. YMMV
 
Technology like this is better used in areas with shops and non-moving WiFi access points than using everything under the sun.

Because of this, it's much better to use Google's triangulation first, then access Skyhook's system for a better location and throw out APs that say they are 300 miles away. Reupload that data saying the AP doesn't exist where you are anymore and the database should improve itself over time.
 
...I wrote them a little note with my wireless routers MACs and my lat/lon, and they updated it...

did you email to the general support address?

how do you know they updated it--did they respond to your email? or did your Locate Me function simply start working properly? Or...?

And how quickly did this happen? (the new software was released last week, right? and another poster in this thread said his friend had notified skyhook of a change, and was told it'd take several weeks to be done; i guess i'm surprised they consummated a fix for you so quickly)
 
In my area in northern California it works pretty good. When I am at home it gets me within about 50 feet and throughout my area it has been within a 1/2 mile or so every time I have checked, usually closer than 1/2 a mile, but sometimes it is a little off. It's not GPS, but for free on my iPhone I'm not gonna complain.
 
I have a few, varied, thoughts on this. First off, if the $20 upgrade fee includes royalties to Skyhook, then I'd feel a bit better about paying -- why didn't you just say so, Steve?

This is a really ingenious system, but as others have said it will only really work well if the database is kept up to date. Self-healing sounds like an interesting feature, but would only work to an extent, and would lead to accuracy degradation over time. (I used to be at exactly point A, but now all I know is that I'm near points B and C). The model would work better if there was some kind of grassroots movement to get people to submit location updates themselves.

Cataloging seems pretty self-evident. A Skyhook vehicle equipped with a GPS just drives around running a program like MacStumbler. At coordinates (x,y) I receive these wireless signals with these signal strengths. Build up enough points and you're in business.

(Still, it seems kinda creepy that someone out there was driving around my neighborhood and cataloging my wireless network against my location! Here's hoping the Skyhook vehicle wasn't a plain white van...)


You want Steve to list all the third parties who receive part of payments you make. That one $20 payment, google, skyhooks to start, mail app might have a couple to say postfix or cyrus teams say. Stocks and Weather widget carry small Yahoo logos so they are getting some cash.
Could be fun but it would add a couple of pages to an iMac sales docket.
 
How accurate is skyhook compared to google's offer. (I know that the iphone has both but what about the touch?)
 
So does it also capture newly identified wifi devices and report their position?

Yes it does. See http://skyhookwireless.com/howitworks/coverage.php

"Any access point that is either not in the database or was previously associated with a different geographic location is automatically identified and recorded to the new corresponding calculated location. In this manner, WPS automatically fixes and expands the reference network as it is being used."
 
You want Steve to list all the third parties who receive part of payments you make. That one $20 payment, google, skyhooks to start, mail app might have a couple to say postfix or cyrus teams say. Stocks and Weather widget carry small Yahoo logos so they are getting some cash.
Could be fun but it would add a couple of pages to an iMac sales docket.

Well, I don't think he needs to say EVERYTHING, but you saw the uproar that the forums were thrown into the moment Steve announced that the Touch upgrade would cost $20. Apple isn't stupid, either, they knew full well that we'd be upset (and vocal).

Steve could have thrown an extra line into his keynote, like "And this will be available for just $20. Part of that cost includes the licensing fee for the fantastic Skyhook wireless location system. We're really excited, we think customers will really enjoy using this..."
 
I only wish it worked a little better over here in Honolulu.
It hasn't worked for me, barely.
Only when I'm directly connected to a network.
 
finding your lat and long

(HOW TO FIND COORDINATES?)
I should have been more specific. :) After googling your address enter
Code:
javascript:void(prompt('',gApplication.getMap().getCenter()));
in your browser's address bar (where you usually enter web page URL's) and hit enter. That'll open a javascript popup with a text field containing your latitude and longitude coordinates. To make sure that's correct run a google maps search for those coordinates without the parenthesis. I usually have to tweak the coordinates a little to get them spot on. YMMV

i got that to work. But here's an easier way: use Google Earth. I moved the cursor over my house and captured lat and long. (they matched almost precisely with the results of your method, which pinned a location several doors down the street).
 
wow, that's a great feature!

now, I'm off to convince my dad that getting an iPhone would really help him stay organized...that is, so i can play with it;)
 
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