iPhone, meet Skyhook
So apparently, my lack of voraciousness as a Mac fanboy made me almost miss the fact that Apple is working with Skyhook Wireless to capture location on the iPhone…oh and that Google company too. This is great. And definitely a step-up for the technology. Since I am a iPod Touch user, not an iPhone, hopefully this will trickle its way down soon. The location features should be rolling out in late February.
UPDATE: Apparently the location information is available with the current 1.1.3 version. As expected the locations seem to be better in areas of higher density so that there are more reference points. I am upgrading the Touch tonight and will say whether the new GMaps feature include location based on wifi for it.
2 Replies to “iPhone, meet Skyhook”
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I’ve used the Skyhook stuff pretty extensively … 2 of my apps already use Skyhook (native Windows Mobile using WPS DLL, native Symbian version will be released this week, plus of course site has the obligatory 4 lines of “Loki” JavaScript for PC/Mac). You can download the WM version with Skyhook support (free of course) at http://www.trapster.com and http://www.jotyou.com. Both have GPS too so (if your phone has GPS) you can compare!
But … to your question … using Skyhook on the Touch would have the same issue that say http://www.trapster.com/rl/Alertster.php has on the PC (must be logged in – that page is not even in link graph for site because of –>> ). It’s possible to plug a 3G card into laptop and drive around using that page to see speed traps – sort of a poor-man’s GPS radar detector – just maybe not practical!
You see the way the Skyhook system currently works requires an Internet connection (not for scanning, but for queries to their server). There is currently no way to cache up location data for an area while connected, and then later cruise around and use it.
So in theory you could use location info on Touch (assuming Skyhook even integrated in Touch) — but only if you are actually *connected* to an access point (in addition to scanning for access points)…. which means you can’t use it while traveling around town.
Obviously I’m hoping that architecture will change soon. I would love to get Trapster working on Touch!!! (of *course* I’ll get it on iPhone as soon as SDK is released).
PS Rumor has it someone actually got Skyhook working on Nintendo DS! Now *that* would be a cool Trapster platform! (but Nintendo hasn’t replied to my request for dev ID 🙁 ).
This is neat stuff. But only in urban areas with butt-loads of free wireless networks.
You **NEED** a wireless network connection to make this technology useful at all. How else would you be able to look up your lat/lon on Google Maps?!
To me, that is the Achillies heel of this technology:
No WiFi = No Google Map = pointless service
Maybe if I’m walking in NYC and able to hop from unsecured wireless network to unsecured wireless network this whole idea might work. But I’ve yet to see that capability.
Since they’re touting this as a “better GPS” I think they need to be a little more transparent as to just how this is really any better.