hyachts's dashboard

A comment on the idea "Make an iPhone App so users can map hotspots for you" in Skyhook Wireless:

Wifi is only part of the Skyhook package. Their "XPS" purports to use wifi, cell tower triangulation and GPS combined to give the fastest time to fix and highest availability possible for devices with any combination of the three radios. I'm not positive, but I bet 2nd gen iPhones still use Skyhook in that manner to assist - if they don't they're missing out.

Also, I'm pretty sure Skyhook does use signal strength information to triangulate a more accurate fix when multiple APs are seen. Regardless, in a device that only uses Skyhook's WPS (1st gen iPhones) there has to be substantial involvement by the user to manually map the data. I suppose an app that tied the devices wifi radio in to an application interface like the "submit your AP" page on their site would at least get you all you needed in one place (basically you point out your location on a map and the software takes a wifi snapshot and uploads). That would be slick for devices without GPS, and not much more likely to result in erroneous data than the web page is. – hyachts, on June 12, 2009 00:04

A comment on the idea "Make an iPhone App so users can map hotspots for you" in Skyhook Wireless:

I disagree that its logical to have the app allow manual coordinate entry. In fact, I think it's far more likely (and logical) to have an app only submit data on an automated (and, by definition, quality controlled) basis. Manual data entry not only introduces the potential for gross errors (and necessitates a more involved QC program) , it is highly unlikely that any significant number of 1st gen iPhone users would take the time to research their current location to a degree that's accurate enough for Skyhook's purposes. Think about the scenario: a user would have to use some third party mapping program to manually determine their coordinates for a given location, then copy them to the Skyhook mapping app every time they wanted to submit. Even if you trust that they'll be diligent about it, how many people do you think will do that? Very few. I think they'll be far better served by only allowing automated data collection with the QC built in, and those who want to manually submit APs can go to the website as before.

Oh, and I agree with ups that if what is developed is iPhone specific, I'll be pretty disappointed. There's a whole world of phone users out there with GPS and wifi who don't want Apple's paws on their apps... – hyachts, on June 11, 2009 01:43

A comment on the idea "Make an iPhone App so users can map hotspots for you" in Skyhook Wireless:

Just curious, what's the scenario in which you envision unreliable data? GPS's (all of them, AFAIK) provide some kind of quality of fix measure, so in theory couldn't you just establish a minimum fix quality and reject any data that doesn't meet it? I'm not familiar enough with the iPhone's location engine to know if they make enough info available, but any WinMo phone (for example) with a GPS does. – hyachts, on June 10, 2009 22:37

A comment on the question "My ipod touch will not locate at home" in Skyhook Wireless:

Are you seeing this with out-of-the-box Linksys routers, too? This was my problem, but only because I flashed the router with aftermarket firmware (DD-WRT). – hyachts, on November 09, 2008 02:04

A comment on the question "My ipod touch will not locate at home" in Skyhook Wireless:

Update: cloning the correct MAC finally worked. My AP showed up in Loki about a week after I submitted it. – hyachts, on November 08, 2008 23:05

hyachts replied on October 29, 2008 01:09 to the question "Correct encrypted WLAN position" in Skyhook Wireless:

Use a utility like netstumbler (google it). The network reports the MAC regardless of security.

hyachts started following the idea "Make an iPhone App so users can map hotspots for you" in Skyhook Wireless.

hyachts replied on October 08, 2008 23:33 to the idea "Make an iPhone App so users can map hotspots for you" in Skyhook Wireless:

I'm surprised they haven't capitalized on this opportunity also. I wonder if they think not enough people would do it to make the effort worthwhile?

A comment on the question "How do I find the MAC Address on my Wireless Access Point?" in Skyhook Wireless:

It doesn't matter - I've submitted in both formats and had them accepted. Just FYI: it took a full week before my AP showed up in Loki. – hyachts, on October 08, 2008 23:31

A comment on the question "My ipod touch will not locate at home" in Skyhook Wireless:

Never mind - I think I found the problem. Here's my post from the other thread about this:
So to follow up - I finally got in touch with Ryan directly and he helped me sort out what is (probably) the issue. My MAC address was being rejected by their database because it is considered "ubiquitous". In other words, lots of routers had this MAC address, so it couldn't be used for unique locations. The reason for this is that I flashed my Linksys router with DD-WRT firmware for other reasons, and by default DD-WRT uses the same MAC addresses in all installations, rather than maintaining the original MAC of the router. So anyone running "out-of-the-box" DD-WRT firmware on a wireless router would have this wireless MAC. I set up wireless cloning in the router admin to clone the original MAC of the router (from the label on the router) and submitted this MAC to Skyhook. I'll post back when (if?) I get results. Here's hoping. – hyachts, on September 26, 2008 20:45

hyachts replied on September 26, 2008 20:36 to the question "How long will it take for my data to show up?" in Skyhook Wireless:

So to follow up - I finally got in touch with Ryan directly and he helped me sort out what is (probably) the issue. My MAC address was being rejected by their database because it is considered "ubiquitous". In other words, lots of routers had this MAC address, so it couldn't be used for unique locations. The reason for this is that I flashed my Linksys router with DD-WRT firmware for other reasons, and by default DD-WRT uses the same MAC addresses in all installations, rather than maintaining the original MAC of the router. So anyone running "out-of-the-box" DD-WRT firmware on a wireless router would have this wireless MAC. I set up wireless cloning in the router admin to clone the original MAC of the router (from the label on the router) and submitted this MAC to Skyhook. I'll post back when (if?) I get results. Here's hoping.

hyachts replied on September 26, 2008 10:54 to the question "My ipod touch will not locate at home" in Skyhook Wireless:

Shane, can you check mine? I've submitted several times over the last month and a half and still no position at home.

MAC 00:40:10:10:00:03

Also, a router that just popped up (today, in fact) nearby is positioning me 10 miles away or so. Should I manually submit it to fix it?

Thanks.

hyachts replied to "How long will it take for my data to show up?", but it was removed. see the change log

hyachts replied on September 18, 2008 10:46 to the question "How long will it take for my data to show up?" in Skyhook Wireless:

Ryan Sarver's profile:

This account has been closed...

Was this your account? Do you want it back?
Send us an email to info@getsatisfaction.com and we'll be in touch.

That's nice. The one guy that had any level of participation here... This is the company's official support forum, isn't it?

A comment on the question "How long will it take for my data to show up?" in Skyhook Wireless:

I'm certain that the Eye-Fi radio is weaker, but the fact that it is able to upload pictures over my home wireless network is indication enough that the card can "see" the network that it's supposed to be getting WPS info from.

I understand the limitations of WPS - this problem is not related to an inherent WPS limitation. It is, instead, related to Skyhook not having mapped my AP which, as I've said here and elsewhere, ought to be one of the things they do best. It is, after all, the cornerstone of their technology to have a complete and up to date database of wireless access points. – hyachts, on September 16, 2008 23:16

A comment on the question "How long will it take for my data to show up?" in Skyhook Wireless:

I did NOT get a fix in Loki until I used the "tune my location" feature in the old version of Loki toolbar for IE which, as I said, seems to have only cached the information locally (at least that's what the behavior I observed would indicate - still no fix with other Skyhook enabled devices/programs for the same AP). – hyachts, on September 16, 2008 22:38

A comment on the question "How long will it take for my data to show up?" in Skyhook Wireless:

Verified the MAC address as the wireless MAC of my router. I did receive an acknowledgment email. I used Loki in IE to manually place myself a few weeks after I submitted my AP, but that also did not seem to update the database. I could "find me" in IE successfully, but I still did not get geotagging on my Eye-Fi card and I was not getting a location with Loki in Firefox so my assumption is that the "successful" positioning in IE was just cached locally somehow. Now that I have a newer version of Loki in IE I have lost even that positioning.

I hadn't considered the possibility that using Loki after manually submitting would somehow cancel each other out. That would seem pretty poor since the position would be almost identical.

As far as reaching Ryan via AIM... I think the three and counting emails I've sent to tech support about this over the last several weeks should have been plenty to get a response. Hounding the guy on IM is a step I'd like to avoid. – hyachts, on September 16, 2008 21:18

A comment on the question "How long will it take for my data to show up?" in Skyhook Wireless:

Perhaps it will take as long to get a response here as it's taking to get my data added... Sweet. – hyachts, on September 16, 2008 16:31

hyachts replied on September 10, 2008 21:25 to the question "Does Loki Mobile work with Edge Network?" in Loki:

No, Loki currently only uses WPS, so if your device doesn't have a wifi radio, you're out of luck.

hyachts replied on September 10, 2008 21:24 to the question "loki cannot see wifi access points" in Loki:

Same issue and error here, despite having submitted my AP and another one close to here to Skyhook over three weeks ago. Not very good response time...