Having trouble with GPS accuracy and speed? Here's a tip...

[budone]

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bearone21 wrote:
"They are tracking ya no matter what. Your car have OnStar?? "

no onstar in my mercedes, don't know if they've ever offered it.

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Ya still have that little black box.

[bearone21]

just like in ncis

[emilynicol2]

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bearone21 wrote:

my apologies.

with dedicated wi-fi towers it could be slick but just accessing wi-fi, you're hitting any wi-fi signal that's close but most like mine at home are encrypted, so you can't use them.

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Hey bearone21 - It doesn't matter if the nearby wi-fi signal is encrypted or not, it will still work. Again you don't need to -connect- to the wi-fi, the signal just needs to be there. As a matter of fact I just tested it out here at work where there are only encrypted networks in range, none of which I have the password to. It works.

I have a feeling that you won't believe me again, and that's fine, but just actually try it out for yourself sometime Experience is the best teacher, as they say...

[PJNC284]

I'm still not following how it could possibly work without being connected to it.  To triangulate, you're going to need an ip address.  To get that, the phone will have to connect to it somehow.  When you hit the wifi button, it does nothing more than scan to see what networks are near you and that's the end of the interaction afaik unless you have one of the network ssid's remembered.  

[bearone21]

just how do you know for sure that you're accessing info from those wireless signals?

i just got off the phone verizon cs and they have no info about these wi-fi towers, none in the verizon system.

look at it from this perspective:
wi-fi towers are/will be at a fixed location, so location info can be triangulated between wi-fi towers, same same, verizon towers.

so please explain to me how just passing by someone's encrypted/unencrypted wireless signal, that any phone can use that info for fixing your position at that time in space?

aka, where is that signal in relation to you, as you're passing by?

gps and the verizon towers are what give the best location.

[emilynicol2]

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PJNC284 wrote:

I'm still not following how it could possibly work without being connected to it.  To triangulate, you're going to need an ip address.  To get that, the phone will have to connect to it somehow.  When you hit the wifi button, it does nothing more than scan to see what networks are near you and that's the end of the interaction afaik unless you have one of the network ssid's remembered.  

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Good question I'm not sure. I was able to dig up an explanation of how the Wi-Fi location feature works on an iPod touch using SkyHook technology. Perhaps it is similar? Preface: I'm not aware what service Google Maps on Verizon uses, but this is just an explanation of a similar technology which may or may not be also used by Google Maps on our phones.

Here is what it says about the iPod Touch Wi-Fi location:

"SkyHook does not restrict itself to "official" public WiFi hotspots. Instead, it sends a fleet of vehicles down every navigable street within a covered area, scanning ALL of the WiFi access points in the vicinity (both private and public) and recording their unique signatures (called a MAC address, but it has no relation to the popular computer platform) along with their signal strength at various latitudes and longitudes.

Whenever the WiFi radio is turned on and CoreLocation is in use, the iPod touch continually scans the MAC addresses and relative signal strengths of all the WiFi access points in the vicinity (not just the one it happens to be connected to), and queries those MAC addresses in SkyHook's database. It can then use those results to triangulate your approximate location.

If SkyHook's database doesn't contain an entry for the WiFi access points nearest you, or if the WiFi access point has moved since the last time SkyHook refreshed its database, then the iPod touch will provide incorrect location information. In that case, it is also possible for operators of WiFi access points (including owners of private home networks) to submit new information to SkyHook in order to help them improve their coverage. "

And more info from Skhook's official website....  http://www.skyhookwireless.com/howitworks/

Like I said, I'm not sure if any of the above is related at all... but maybe it is? Who knows....