2 Newbie Questions NS File Names Upload to Wigle + GPS

[hbest]

Hi,

New to this whole Wardriving/Wigle thing, but trying to learn and enjoying the heck out of it, as is my copilot in Wardriving and life, my lovely wife.

I have 2 questions:

1. When I finish a "drive" I rename my Netstumbler files to the start and finish points of my drive. (Leaving the file extension alone). After uploading my first files to Wigle early this morning, I got to wondering, would my renaming of the files be a problem? I searched the FAQ and did not see an answer.

2. Will be getting a GPS in a few weeks. Can a GPS grab the Lat/Lon as you are moving at speeds of 40-70 MPH? I assume the faster the speed the less accuracy, but must you come to a stop for the GPS to read that at all?

Appreciate any help. I must say there ae some very smart people here and over at the NS forums. But, just between you, me and the fence post I am a little scared posting at NS. Only did it a couple of times, read every FAQ, the part on asking smart questions, etc. I didn't get flamed, got my answers, but I was a nervous wreck for a couple of hours.

Thanks in advance,

Harvey
hbest

[wrzwaldo]

Hi,

New to this whole Wardriving/Wigle thing, but trying to learn and enjoying the heck out of it, as is my copilot in Wardriving and life, my lovely wife.

I have 2 questions:

1. When I finish a "drive" I rename my Netstumbler files to the start and finish points of my drive. (Leaving the file extension alone). After uploading my first files to Wigle early this morning, I got to wondering, would my renaming of the files be a problem? I searched the FAQ and did not see an answer.

No renaming will not cause a problem. Just make sure you are logged in before posting a file.

2. Will be getting a GPS in a few weeks. Can a GPS grab the Lat/Lon as you are moving at speeds of 40-70 MPH? I assume the faster the speed the less accuracy, but must you come to a stop for the GPS to read that at all?

Yes, if a GPS can grab LAT/LON in an aircraft I see no problems with the speeds you have posted.

Appreciate any help. I must say there ae some very smart people here and over at the NS forums. But, just between you, me and the fence post I am a little scared posting at NS. Only did it a couple of times, read every FAQ, the part on asking smart questions, etc. I didn't get flamed, got my answers, but I was a nervous wreck for a couple of hours.

Thanks in advance,

Harvey
hbest

Welcome to the hobby

[hbest]

Hi,

Sorry for the double post. I get "stutter" finger sometmes.

Thanks for the information and the welcome.

I have 7 files uploaded to Wigle now. My first 2 files have been uploaded for more than 24 hours now, but haven't been processed as best I can tell. The first 2 are in position 9 and 10 in the Queue. Is that a normal amount of time?

Thanks again,

Harvey

[ccie4526]

I have 7 files uploaded to Wigle now. My first 2 files have been uploaded for more than 24 hours now, but haven't been processed as best I can tell. The first 2 are in position 9 and 10 in the Queue. Is that a normal amount of time?

Actually, this is not normal. Per another thread in the main forum, the admins are doing some updates to the server side of things, and upload file processing is currently offline. I've got 8 files in the queue (31-38) that have been there about 15 hours now. Normally, there are no files in the queue, and files are processed usually within a couple of minutes of being uploaded, depending on the size of the file uploaded.

I'm content to wait, knowing that the sysadmins are doing all they can to keep this wonderful site going, given the load that we are putting upon them.

[mark571]

Hi,

New to this whole Wardriving/Wigle thing, but trying to learn and enjoying the heck out of it, as is my copilot in Wardriving and life, my lovely wife.

I must say there ae some very smart people here and over at the NS forums. But, just between you, me and the fence post I am a little scared posting at NS. Only did it a couple of times, read every FAQ, the part on asking smart questions, etc. I didn't get flamed, got my answers, but I was a nervous wreck for a couple of hours.

Thanks in advance,

Harvey
hbest

Welcome Harvey.

The NS folks are really nice folks. They just get overwhelmed by the same questions asked over and over when the majority of the answers are already in the forum and/or FAQ's. I lurked for a long time and read ALL the FAQ's and forum posts and learned a ton of information from just that. It's amazing what you can learn from other people's questions and answers. There is a disturbing trend where people are too lazy or impatient to search for answers that are readily available on those types of forums. I think you'll find the NS folks are quite receptive to those who are willing to do some research and leg work first. It makes for more informed questions. NS also has a lot of members who don't speak English as a first language. Because of that, and to facilitate message readability, proper use of English and punctuation is stressed for all members. It really cuts down on the overall confusion. We USA folks tend to be lazy in our style of communication and the "IM speak" style has made that much worse. Many non-native English speakers tend to do a better job at English than we do so the lazy writers are not well tolerated.

You're an intelligent and well spoken person. You will not have any trouble on the NS forum.

[uhtu]

we are working as fast as we can (well, our processor is.. *we* are really low MhZ boxes), and will get the file queue dealt with as soon as possible.

nondeterminisim being what it is, we can't give a "when" other than "soon" :-\

sorry for the inconvenience.

-uhtu

[argh]

hi harvey, welcome to the group. 'driving is a fun hobby. my wife who is basically low-tech remains fascinated with it, and is a big help. as fun as it can be, remember to keep your eyes on the road! it's very distracting, let your co-pilot watch it. after awhile, many hardcore wardrivers leave it in the back seat, or the trunk.

i just returned from a trip, and the laptop in the car actually saved the day. i was riding along with others, and just as we started a 5-hour drive, the four-lane interstate started slowing to a crawl, then stopped. i also had some mapping software (gpsdrive) with local maps running. an hour later as we inched up to an exit, i iadvised the driver to take this exit, then ten minutes of back country roads put us out on another highway where we continued on.

speed won't lower the accuracy of where *you* are on the GPS, but as mentioned it won't be exactly where the AP was flagged. actually slower is better, you'll find more APs. if you are going to pursue this, go for the cul-de-sacs, there are many hidden off the 'main road'. big apartment buildings in a reasonably affluent area are some of the best places (highest concentration of dwellings per square foot, and less driving for you). sometimes you can get hundreds just by driving all the way around/through an apartment complex. if you are in an unfamiliar area, either run live mapping software displaying a track or keep a paper map handy to mark where you've been. there's nothing wrong with driving through a residential area slowly once, but if you are criss-crossing the same area, a neighborhood watch group may call 911.

i have six logs queued for processing here, just hang on, it'll get to it.

Last edited by argh on Mon Dec 05, 2005 3:56 am, edited 1 time in total.

[hbest]

Hi again,

Thanks for all the replies and information I received. I had seen the other thread about the server upgrades, but I was still kind of scared my file name changing was causing my files a problem, or worse, was creating a problem for Wigle. (Even paranoids have enemies sometimes )

I know what you mean about learning alot just by reading other peoples questions. The question I posted, I had researched the daylights out of, but I could not tell from the different posts what the concensus was. So, I finally ventured my head up out of the water.

Again, all, thanks for the replies, help, pointers, etc. The great people at Wigle, thanks for all you have done, and are doing.

Harvey