[darngooddesign]

Feel free to move this thread if its not in the correct place.

How hard would it be to a have Maps use the iP's built in locater that 911 (and the NSA) uses? It wouldn't be super precise, but would be more than good enough as a starting point. What about via a website that pulls up a Google Maps link?

Just a thunk.

[arthursdomain]

Originally Posted by darngooddesign

Feel free to move this thread if its not in the correct place.

How hard would it be to a have Maps use the iP's built in locater that 911 (and the NSA) uses? It wouldn't be super precise, but would be more than good enough as a starting point. What about via a website that pulls up a Google Maps link?

Just a thunk.

id go out on a limb and say, very... at this point i dont think anything is impossible in time, but... never know.

also thread moved to file mods/iphone based programs

[exoram]

i logged onto my website using AT&T's edge and it states that im a visitor from some other state other than where i am right now. However when i was using the wifi with my local cable internet provider, and visited teh website from my iphone then it was very accurate.

So in reality i doubt this would be a very handy feature if you want to rely on AT&T's edge.

[Alperovich]

Originally Posted by exoram

i logged onto my website using AT&T's edge and it states that im a visitor from some other state other than where i am right now. However when i was using the wifi with my local cable internet provider, and visited teh website from my iphone then it was very accurate.

So in reality i doubt this would be a very handy feature if you want to rely on AT&T's edge.

so your saying that knowing were u are via using the maps feature would not be a good idea? your smoking crack man. this would be awesome. it would help with active tracking while using the map feature to find something.

[exoram]

im smoking crack?....no the idea is great...knowing where u are based on your ip address is awesome and probably a good idea if your phone is using wifi.....but if your using wifi...im guessing you already know where u are, however if you are using AT&T's edge then your ip doesnt mean anything. I live in jersey but when i use edge, my ip address is based somewhere in maryland. So this poormans gps would tell me im in maryland when im actually in jersey.

How would that even be convenient? Honestly it doesnt make sense to me, but Alperovich if that helps you out in any way...by all means good for you.

[Rayne]

It's not technically a built-in locator that's in a phone. 911 operators and the like have the ability to triangulate.

Any phone that has built in GPS that can utilize it has a seperate GPS chip built in.

On the other hand, if a third party navigator application can be written for iPhone, you could use an external Bluetooth GPS Receiver.

[iphonejeff]

Originally Posted by exoram

but if your using wifi...im guessing you already know where u are.

DUH!!lmao!!!

[Sintex]

Originally Posted by Rayne

It's not technically a built-in locator that's in a phone. 911 operators and the like have the ability to triangulate.

Any phone that has built in GPS that can utilize it has a seperate GPS chip built in.

On the other hand, if a third party navigator application can be written for iPhone, you could use an external Bluetooth GPS Receiver.

Actually, even phones without GPS have to be aware of their own position. Federal law required like three or four years ago that all new cell phones support position reporting for 911. The phone must be able to supply it's location within like a 50 foot radius.

[Rayne]

Originally Posted by Sintex

Actually, even phones without GPS have to be aware of their own position. Federal law required like three or four years ago that all new cell phones support position reporting for 911. The phone must be able to supply it's location within like a 50 foot radius.

Which is triangulation.

[MSHax]

Originally Posted by Sintex

Actually, even phones without GPS have to be aware of their own position. Federal law required like three or four years ago that all new cell phones support position reporting for 911. The phone must be able to supply it's location within like a 50 foot radius.

This was actually in operation even 13 yrs ago when I was a level 3 site tech for at&t. The idea of the poormans gps is sweet but you're focusing on the wrong address. As said before your ip or edge address could (and will) locate your nearest ip center which could be miles away & will change depending on traffic amount. The way cell phone tracking works is through your esn (electronic serial number). THAT'S what we need to tap into to make this work. The only problem is that this information portion is located in a area that's untouchable for now. If this was released it would make a lot of people happy. I hate the google maps when ever i actually need it it load so slow.

[SiLeNtKiLLa]

I believe that an program very similar to Navizon would be pretty sweet with the iPhone. It was designed for windows mobile devices, but it acts as an software based GPS reciever for people who have no reciever and it bases its positioning off of cellphone towers and wifi access points. Then if we could implement that into Google Maps would be even sweeter. If it was possible to port this appilcation over to iPhone would be flawless.

http://www.navizon.com

[hillie]

Geohot had something like this as his next project, and he said that he gave up when he found out it would need extensive modifications to the firmware

Source: http://opengsm.blogspot.com/

He was going to do it via triangulation on the cell towers which is more complex than this idea, so i'm guessing it would at the very least be -very hard-

[JasonR]

This is a lot like how Loran works. Assuming that the cell tower locations are all known, then an application could use the relative signal strenghts of the various towers that are 'seen' by the phone, and triangulate an approximate location. Take a look at the Cell Information in Field Test. At the moment, I have information about 7 cell towers. If we knew exactly where they were, it could be possible to figure out where exactly I am, assuming I didn't know already.

- Jason

[Alperovich]

hmm this would be an awesome addition...

[markland556]

why not just bluetooth to an external gps device?