Re: iPhone Maps location feature

In <1iau1a4.1grxjk879yok6N%nonesuch@xxxxxxxxxx>, Adrian wrote:

As far as I understand it will only know where you are if your iPod
Touch can triangulate with some known local (commercial) WiFi hotspots

They don't have to be commercial. They merely have to be known by the database. The data were collected by roaming vans picking up the MAC addresses of various wi-fi APs.

I find that for me at home, the iPhone has me in a narrow circle centered at my house. I suspect that my own wifi AP is in the database. I'll have to turn it off and experiment to see how well I get placed without it.

A few days ago I was in the new building with very little around for a couple of miles. While there was local wifi in the new building, none of them appeared to be in the database and the iPhone made a fairly poor guess at my location. I should point out that the ATT signal was extremely weak there as well.

-j

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