Skyhook Wireless has ported its geolocation software development kit (SDK) to Android, enabling Android phones to determine their location through a hybrid of GPS data and the relative location of known wifi access points.
Compared to the iPhone, the G1 Android phone doesn’t have quite the accuracy or speed when it comes to fixing your location via GPS. Skyhook Wireless may have a solution – and have just ported it to the Android platform.
All devices that connect to wired or wireless networks have a unique code number known as a MAC address. Skyhook have developed an algorithm that finds nearby wifi access points, checks their MAC address against a database and performs some (top secret) calculations to determine the approximate distance between it and the phone.
Skyhook claim that Apple licensed their technology (known as ‘XPS’) for the iPhone and quietly added it via a firmware update. The system does ot require you to be out doors to get a decent satellite fix and can work indoors as long as there is a known wifi node nearby – or preferably more than one to give better triangulation.
The XPS system is available for license now – here’s hoping that Android handset makers pick up on it.
via Linux Devices
