At Yahoo! Research Berkeley we have developed an API that allows for personalized cell-id based positioning for non-commercial use. You can check it out at http://developer.yahoo.com/yrb/zonetag/index.html
It includes read and write apis as well as way to get suggested tags for your location. Currently we have pretty good coverage of the Bay Area as well as parts of New York, Los Angeles, London, Helsinki and Budapest. Rahul Nair Yahoo! Research Berkeley -- http://www.rahulnair.net/blog > Date: Wed, 12 Sep 2007 17:29:37 -0600 > From: Martin May <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: Re: [Geowanking] iPhone Geolocating technology? > To: [email protected] > Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" > > On Sep 12, 2007, at 12:24 PM, Andrew Turner wrote: > > Depends on where you are - and like you point out with Wigle - it > > comes down to the data. > > True, it does come down to the data. Christopher started an effort to > collect location data for GSM cells at http://gsmloc.org/, and I > personally mapped most of the Denver area a few years back (for T- > Mobile) using my own software. Cellspotting has a similar database, > although I'm not sure if they have lat/long info for the cells. > > The nice thing about GSM cells is that they probably don't change > quite as often as Wi-Fi hotspots, cover a larger area per cell, and > are present in more places. The drawback is that you have to collect > the data for each provider (maybe similar to Ian's duct-tape cell > bundle ;) > > > What, specifically, were the licensing qualms with Wigle? Multiple > > people have said something similarly vague, but nothing specific as to > > why. > > It's basically as Dan said, they only allow use on one single > computer for one user, pretty much ruling out anything useful that is > web-based. They offer a commercial license, but I have no idea how > much they charge for it or what terms apply to that. > > Martin > > -- > Martin May > CTO, Brightkite.com > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > T 720-299-4027 > > > On 9/11/07, Martin May <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> > >> I've looked at the Wigle database about a month ago, and it seems > >> that while > >> the database itself is a great source for geocoded SSIDs (and more > >> importantly, MAC addresses), the licensing is somewhat restrictive. > >> > >> With regards to the iPhone, another interesting question is > >> whether we can > >> access the API that the field test app i using to show currently > >> visible > >> cell towers with signal strength. This information could then be > >> used, > >> similarly to Wi-Fi, to geolocate the handset. Since the GSM > >> network has > >> better coverage than individual Wi-Fi networks, this could be a more > >> worthwhile technique > > > > Depends on where you are - and like you point out with Wigle - it > > comes down to the data. > > > > What, specifically, were the licensing qualms with Wigle? Multiple > > people have said something similarly vague, but nothing specific as to > > why. > > > > > >> > >> Martin > >> > >> -- > >> Martin May > >> CTO, Brightkite.com > >> > >> [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >> T 720-299-4027 > >> > >> > >> On Sep 11, 2007, at 6:16 PM, Mike Liebhold wrote: > >> > >> There's news today that there might be something useful here for > >> building > >> iphone wifi geolocation: > >> http://code.google.com/p/iphone-wireless/ it looks like > >> it's possible to scan for an AP SSID: > >> http://code.google.com/p/iphone-wireless/wiki/Apple80211Scan > >> > >> ideally, if you have a db of locations of AP SSIDs then all you > >> have to do > >> is scan and compare visible APs with known AP locations to > >> determine your > >> location. > >> > >> so the question remains, (aside from the skyhook/loki commercial > >> db) what is > >> the best source of a db of geocoded wifi AP SSIDs? Drew, Is > >> wifimaps.com > >> the best, current source? also, I'm wondering if anyone has had > >> any recent > >> experience with the wigle db? > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> Drew from Zhrodague wrote: > >> > >> Do you or any of these others publish the associated datasets, eg. > >> under > >> Creative Commons or other open license? Seems there's a problem > >> getting > >> critical mass of data for such efforts... > >> > >> We're releasing the wifimaps.com data under the GPL, as soon > >> as we can > >> package it into a useful format! > >> > >> The next question becomes -- what format do people want their > >> wifi > >> locations in? WFS? KML? Something made-up? Again, I'm looking for > >> some kinda > >> help on this project, as I'm in way over my head =_) > >> > >> _______________________________________________ Geowanking mailing list [email protected] http://lists.burri.to/mailman/listinfo/geowanking
