[LINK] Introducing geoloc

Jon Seymour jon.seymour at gmail.com
Thu Feb 17 11:26:02 AEDT 2011


On Mon, Jan 31, 2011 at 1:16 AM, Jon Seymour <jon.seymour at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Mon, Jan 17, 2011 at 11:07 PM, Jon Seymour <jon.seymour at gmail.com> wrote:
>> On Mon, Jan 17, 2011 at 8:33 PM, Paul Brooks
>> <pbrooks-link at layer10.com.au> wrote:
>>> On 14/01/2011 1:59 PM, Jon Seymour wrote:
>>
>>
>> I was surprised that Google had updated the devices in a relatively
>> short period of time. For example, on the first map, there
>> is a WiFi device in Dampier, WA whose location changed slightly over
>> that period. I haven't worked out how this happened, but it
>> strikes me unlikely that Google happened to have street view car way
>> out in Dampier in the last two weeks. If it wasn't a Google street
>> view car that provided this location adjustment, one wonders on what
>> basis the location was updated.
>>
>
>
> Given that it appears that Google announced last May that they had
> removed WiFi scanning equipment from their Street View
> cars (http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/05/wifi-data-collection-update.html),
> I think it is an open question about
> how they are keeping their MAC address database current.
>

A product manager from Google has used Quora to answer my question
about how they keep there database current. See:

   http://goo.gl/DbdE5

or quote below for convenience:

We no longer collect any WiFi information through our Street View
driving, but we do populate our location database through client
software. For example, if a GPS-enabled mobile phone using Google's
location services obtains a GPS fix, those precise GPS coordinates may
be sent to Google's servers along with any WiFi and cellular data
observed by the phone. Linking WiFi or cellular data with an accurate
GPS reading helps us improve the accuracy of our location services,
adapt to network changes (such as new cellular towers or relocated
WiFi access points) and provide a better experience to people using
our services.

jon.



More information about the Link mailing list