Getting GPS data from AP data?

[adamjh]

Hi all- great project!

I'm wondering if there's any way to query for GPS data from AP data (MAC Address, namely), preferably via a web service?

WiFi APs are a great way to infer location, and tapping into your massive database of GPS/AP data could be helpful to developers building a wide range of location-aware apps.

Thanks!

- Adam

[mark571]

Hi all- great project!

I'm wondering if there's any way to query for GPS data from AP data (MAC Address, namely), preferably via a web service?

WiFi APs are a great way to infer location, and tapping into your massive database of GPS/AP data could be helpful to developers building a wide range of location-aware apps.

Thanks!

- Adam

Adam, be aware your question makes it sound like you're wanting to rape someone else's data store without paying for it. Contacting the WiGLE admins would be the correct way to go if your intent is on the up and up.

GPS locations associated with MAC addresses only show an approximation of location. Depending on how many times the network has been seen and what equipment was used and the QOS rating, the location could be miles away from the actual AP. The GPS location recorded is the location of the device recording it at that point in time, not the actual AP. I could have an amplifier (I use one) with a cantena (or multiple antennas, I do) on a hill and record many AP's from a long distance that would all show as being where I was sitting when I recorded them, not where they were actually located. If you drove a circle around "each" network out there, then you'd have a "better" location, but due to the nature of how the 2.4 GHz wavelength signal is so easily scattered, it would still not be correct. I could go on and on, but perhaps you get the idea.

[adamjh]

Adam, be aware your question makes it sound like you're wanting to rape someone else's data store without paying for it. Contacting the WiGLE admins would be the correct way to go if your intent is on the up and up.

Not really. It's just another potential use of the information that the WiGLE project provides. Are you saying that people who are using WiGLE to find free wireless APs are also "raping someone else's data store without paying for it"?

GPS locations associated with MAC addresses only show an approximation of location. Depending on how many times the network has been seen and what equipment was used and the QOS rating, the location could be miles away from the actual AP. The GPS location recorded is the location of the device recording it at that point in time, not the actual AP. I could have an amplifier (I use one) with a cantena (or multiple antennas, I do) on a hill and record many AP's from a long distance that would all show as being where I was sitting when I recorded them, not where they were actually located. If you drove a circle around "each" network out there, then you'd have a "better" location, but due to the nature of how the 2.4 GHz wavelength signal is so easily scattered, it would still not be correct. I could go on and on, but perhaps you get the idea.

I agree - GPS locations associated with MAC addresses do only show an approximation. For some applications of location-awareness, all you need is an approximation. For example, using the data in the WiGLE db, I could build a weather app that shows a user her local weather forecast without initially asking her to input her location (but giving her the option to correct/switch locations). That's a simple example - there are tons of other applications that approximated GPS locations could empower.

That said, you could improve approximations for APs that have been seen multiple times at multiple sets of GPS coordinates (the simplest way to gain a major improvement would be to take the midpoint).

[mark571]

Not really. It's just another potential use of the information that the WiGLE project provides. Are you saying that people who are using WiGLE to find free wireless APs are also "raping someone else's data store without paying for it"?

Building an app to access the DB is not the same thing and is addressed in the WiGLE site EULA agreement. If they grant you access, then have at it but you need to ask them, not the user community which makes it sound like you're trying to go around the EULA.

[adamjh]

Building an app to access the DB is not the same thing and is addressed in the WiGLE site EULA agreement. If they grant you access, then have at it but you need to ask them, not the user community which makes it sound like you're trying to go around the EULA.

Oh. I figured that the "WiGLE Project Suggestions" forum was the right place to make a suggestion.

I can email someone directly, but isn't the point of the forum to discuss these things and archive them so that the next person who comes along with the same suggestion doesn't send the same people email asking for the same thing? Are you saying that the people who run the project don't participate in these forums? And the "Suggestions" forum is for making suggestions to other users?

In any event, I was never asking for access to the WiGLE DB, nor was I trying to circumvent any EULA. I was suggesting building an additional service on top of the DB that provided location approximations (hosted by WiGLE -- or by a 3rd party if WiGLE isn't interested but sees the value).

I guess every project has its politics, and I'm new around here, so apologies if I've offended you!

[mark571]

No offense taken what so ever.