[aprssig] Wi-Fi Positioning System (WPS) for APRS

[Wes Johnston, AI4PX]

The obvious hack here is to name your wifi router with the SSID of your
lat/lon.  Of course that fails in large wifi coverage areas where you have
multiple hotspots that ordinarily have the same ssid.  SSID contains 32
characters.  It would be possible to name a SSID something like
33.598123x-080.241115.  Position ambiguity could be expressed by simply
using less or more decimal places in the name.  a hotspot with the name
33.5x-080.2 would represent an area 6 miles square for example.

Come to think of it though.... wouldn't it be slick to name your wifi AP
with an APRS compressed position packet?  Like this:
AI4PX-15>APRS:!/=AY':0xp[ st

Of course no ordinary person is going to do this when they name their AP.
It's a shame there's no provision for this in the SSID broadcast.

Wes


On 9/2/06, John Habbinga <kc5zrq at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I was recently contracted to map out the location of every Wi-Fi
> access point, in the the city where I live, for a company called
> Skyhook Wireless.  They are using this data to provide a positioning
> system that can be used in lieu of satellite based GPS.  I'm curious
> if anyone has considered using their system to provide location data
> for APRS.  Perhaps the developers of Xastir or those creating
> UI-View32 plug-ins, might be able to use the developer API that
> Skyhook Wireless provides.
>
> More about Skyhook Wireless:
>
> Founded in 2003, Skyhook Wireless has pioneered the development of the
> first-ever metro-area positioning system that leverages Wi-Fi rather
> than satellites or cell towers to deliver precise location data
> supporting the growing market for location-based services. The Skyhook
> Wi-Fi Positioning System (WPS) requires no new hardware, works indoors
> and outdoors, provides an instant location and is more accurate than
> current technologies in congested downtown areas. Skyhook Wireless is
> headquartered in Needham, MA and is privately held.
>
> Check out www.skyhookwireless.com and www.loki.com.  Developers check
> out http://developer.skyhookwireless.com/.
>
> --
> John Habbinga, KC5ZRQ
> Lubbock, Texas
> http://find-you.com/cgi-bin/find.cgi?call=KC5ZRQ*
>
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>
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