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On 21 Apr 2010, at 16:01, Paul Hartman wrote: |
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>> ... |
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>> I *believe* that a geolocation-aware browser would be able to tell |
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>> the site |
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>> where you are. So as soon as you open the webpage, the site will |
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>> query your |
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>> browser, your browser will tell it where you are and an AJAXy |
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>> element on the |
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>> page would say "Your nearest Tesco store is 13th Street... Click |
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>> here for |
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>> directions". |
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>> |
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> |
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> There are already big sites like Twitter and Google Maps that use the |
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> geolocation API. Give it a try: http://www.google.com/maps/m |
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> |
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> If it is able to get your location, it should have a little dot in the |
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> bottom-right corner that will take you to your current location when |
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> clicked. |
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Thanks! |
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That doesn't find my current location using my desktop Mac and Safari. |
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I CBA to try it with my current mobile phone which, although a "smart |
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phone", is an older model. I may get a flashy new Android unit soon, |
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so maybe I'll try it then. |
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> What if the Google Street View vans, in addition to taking |
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> photographs, were also scanning for wifi signals and recording their |
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> location? That would give them an impressive database of wifi |
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> "hotspots". |
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Indeed. I considered this when writing my previous response, but I |
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didn't know how interested readers would be. One could write quite a |
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lot on this subject. |
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Google (for instance) could get quite good data from this, but it |
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would be a lot of work. The locations of wifi access-points could be |
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triangulated quite accurately, but it's not really very clear how long |
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the data will stay accurate. There are probably hot-spots in town |
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centres and at fast-food restaurants which are static in the order of |
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5 years. |
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However once into residential areas, the SSIDs of APs may change quite |
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often, as residents move house or switch broadband providers. I'm not |
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sure about the US, but here in the UK (and I would imagine throughout |
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Europe) the majority of wifi access-points are supplied by ADSL and |
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cable ISPs. They like their customers to use their branded "BT |
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Homehub" (BT = British Telecom), or "Orange Livebox" in order to |
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reduce support overheads, and also because these are locked to their |
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DSL networks and thus help tie-in customers. |
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Nevertheless, customers typically change suppliers every 18 -24 |
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months, just as soon as their contract expires and they see a new |
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"deal" from another ISP. So the SSID of Homehub1234, plotted 2 years |
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ago, may very well no longer be there. The widespread SSIDs of |
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"Linksys" and "Netgear" must be ignored, unless it is possible to |
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identify them by MAC address without authenticating. |
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Thus geolocation using wifi APs becomes quite a fraught problem, and |
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I'm not sure it's worth it, considering the how much more widespread |
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is use of mobile phones with GPS (or a cell-tower database). |
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Stroller. |
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