Wifi based GPS.

I was fooling around with my ipod touch on the bus (Tethered to my phone using joikuspot) when i realized that it was tracking me *on* the freeway. I'm guessing it triangulated my position based on signal strength from each hotspot on either side as we drove across (Or someone screwed up and the entire coordinate system shifted horizontally).

Is the hotspot database on google? Can other google maps based GPSes potentially have the same feature? Are there GPSes like this on the laptop?

It was following you because it was tethered to your phone.

450 said:

It was following you because it was tethered to your phone.

Click to expand...

How?

#1 As far as the Touch was concerned, it was just another wifi hotspot and wifi spots need to be on a database to be used. AFAIK, there is no way you can track an unknown IP's position.

#2 The phone is using a symbian app emulating a proprietary adhoc server, it doesn't use the phones GPS.

#3 The coordinates weren't in real time, and in some places, i was suddenly put clear across the city (I'm guessing someone took their wifi home)

Just thought that maybe the Wifi database was on a centralized publicly accessible database like google (Anybody can access google maps and make their own mapping software), and we can have the same function on every mobile device out there (Google Maps for android, Google Maps for Symbian, Google Maps for Windows, etc.) no more need for a GPS chip.


It also makes it easier for me to make a trojan, put it on someone's PC and then instantly know where he is the moment he connects to a wifi spot.

Is the root of your question: Can my general location be traced via IP/cell connection?

If so, then the answer is "yes."

-bZj

His claim was that the ipod app can get my position by using my phone instead of the surrounding wifi.

If a piece of software really can triangulate my position without needing to actively upload my IP address and GPS coordinate constantly to a third party server that isn't even associated with nokia, then how come it occasionally points my position at a spot across the city?

Can a iPod app even access the GPS on your Nokia using Joikuspot?