Apps using location

[John3596]

Have found a number of apps that want to use my location, but they can't find my location. Some won't load at all. I have a home network from my cable company. BTW on my wifes' iPod it thinks it's in Port Wahington in the northwest not Williamsburg, VA which is where we are.

 

[Balibe]

Maybe it is because your location is 200+ years behind the rest of the country

Hmm, I Googled this and learned something new. Below is how the iPod Touch does it, iPad should be the same.

Source: It actually uses the SSIDs and hardware addresses of any WiFi access points it finds within range, and then looks up this information in an online database. Essentially, a company known as Skyhook Wireless has driven around North America cataloguing the locations of various WiFi access points and where they're reachable from, and then put this all into a database that can be used for triangulation.

Here is a video of how it works, flash required.

You can go to Skyhook and update your WiFi location if you know your MAC Address. The address should be on the device.

Sorry if this is too much info, hope it helps resolve your issue.

 

[MikesTooLz]

This all depends if you have a 3G ipad.

if its a wifi only ipad that there is no real way for it to find its location other than guessing. How does it guess? it looks at what wifi hotspots are in its area that it can see then checks online to see if the hotspots location is registered.

What happens if a hotspot (wireless router) moves? the ipads/ iphones will still detect as being int the hotspots original location unless the hotspots location is updated in skyhook.

 

[John3596]

Thanks Balibe. Forgive my ignorance, I took a quick look in settings and have not found the MAC address. This would be on the WIFI router?

 

[Balibe]

Not sure which access point you have, mine is a Linksys E3000. The MAC Address is found on the status page [screenshot attached]. The MAC Address is a unique number to all wireless devices, should also be printed on the tag somewhere.

Not sure if this is going to resolve your issue as I am no expert. I only posted some information that I googled which explained how it works.

Hope it helps & keep us updated ....

 

[MikesTooLz]

its found on the status page of the router, also if you look on the sticker thats on the bottom of the router it will also list the MAC address.

 

[John3596]

Thanks all. Acording to Skyhook the MAC address they need is not the one found on the router. I was able to download inSIDDer to our laptop and get the correct address and send the update to Skyhook, now we wait and see if this helps our location issues.

 

[MikesTooLz]

this is one of the main reasons I got a 3G model.