Comments on: Skyhook's love/hate relationship with GPS

CEO of the geolocation company says Wi-Fi is what you need to get your bearings fast, but GPS has a few uses too.

[myles taylor]

I find the 2 out of 3 times thing very hard to believe. Even when I turn on my wifi on my iPhone, I usually only do it if I'm in range of a wireless network that I know. It's really hard to find free wifi out there. The whole point of geolocation is that you don't know where you are and you need to know. I'm not going to bother to look for wireless networks to get my location as that will take longer than waiting or my GPS. What does Skyhook do to make it easier and faster?

[KillersDad]

MT - you don't need to be logged into a network for Skyhook to use it as a wi-fi geolocator. Skyhook just detects the signal, it doesn't access the Internet just the signal source.

I find my iPhone with wi-fi turned on all the time locates me far faster even in my car than my on-board GPS does. The GPS, if not powered up daily, can take up to five minutes.

[libertyforall1776]

What this article forgot to mention is to install the Loki plug-in to add location awareness today, this adds location services to the Mac for Firefox, Safari, etc.

Current is 3.0 (v.3.1.0.05)

When you go here, it prompts you to install:
http://loki.com/findme

It basically enables location services determined via Wi-Fi, etc.

This page (customized for Dell and shown in the article) has some pre-configured location elements to give you some ideas of the potential:
http://dell.loki.com/

[aedwards123]

Location by WiFi networks only works when there are loads of networks near-by. For a 'where the f**k am I' moment in the middle of nowhere, wifi location will not work.

Also, a GPS receiver will only take 30 seconds to get the first fix if it's starting totally cold. For this to happen, it must have been moved hundreds of miles turned off or not been turned on for weeks. In normal, regular use, a GPS will fix in 10 seconds or less.

I tried WiFi location on my iPod Touch once, it said I was about 5 miles away from where I actually was. It's been turned off ever since.

Alan.