AlwaysOnGPS: Works Where GPS Doesn't...

[Darius Wey]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.alwaysongps.com/' target='_blank'>http://www.alwaysongps.com/</a><br /><br /></div><i>"AlwaysOnGPS enables standard GPS users with WiFi enabled PocketPC/PDA devices to determine their precise location (GPS coordinates) in situations where and when GPS signals are not available. Using the power of our advanced (patent pending) WiFi Positioning System, GPS users with WiFi enabled devices can still access extremely accurate GPS Data while located or situated: within office buildings, warehouses, campus interiors, clubs, restaurants, museums, galleries, conference facilities, newly discovered venues, between tall buildings, within "urban canyons", inside multi-level car parking decks and even underground!"</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/wey-20050610-AlwaysOnGPS.jpg" /><br /><br />This seems like a great solution for those of you who suffer from signal loss problems (usually present in heavily built-up settings). As soon as the signal drops out, AlwaysOnGPS makes full use of Wi-Fi positioning to provide a continuous and accurate data feed. There is a 30-day trial if you're interested, and a single license is priced at $19.95.

[foebea]

This seems very fantasical to me.
To me it sounds like: "The home phone can oly go as far as the cord, but now when you are away from home you can get a signal at least as clear as your home phone by using this tire pressure gauge!"

How does this work?

"between tall buildings, within "urban canyons"
So when driving through a metro area, and you lose gps signal for a while, you continue to get it throuh wifi? how fast can your device connect to an available source? also there are many locations where wifi is not available. I know of very few parking garages suitibly equipted.

"within office buildings, warehouses, campus interiors, clubs, restaurants, museums, galleries, conference facilities"
I do not see how this would work. even assuming blanket coverage of wifi, without additional hardware how can it possibly determine your location? The faq on the site says this starts to work within one or two days of use, and that the wifi alone would be able to give your location even if gps dropped out of service completely.

"newly discovered venues"
I don't even understand what this means :lol:


Can anyone clear this up for me?

[Kevin Daly]

"within office buildings, warehouses, campus interiors, clubs, restaurants, museums, galleries, conference facilities".....

While I'm sure this is a cool idea and will doubtless be very useful to people navigating around unfamiliar cities (can't see it helping outside populate areas for obvious reasons), I had to laugh when I read that list - because as a rule when you're in one of those places you should, generally speaking, know where you are (with the possible exception of the Louvre).

[Jonathan1]

Can anyone clear this up for me?

Yah…it’s a scam. Or at the very least its capabilities seem to be blow out of proportion. I will remain the eternal pessimist until I see some people from PPCT try this thing out.

[ctmagnus]

Plus, they used the phrase "patent pending". I suspect the pending patent may be of the type that frequently gets so much discussion on these forums.

[Sven Johannsen]

Well I can imagine how it could work, by triangulating your position based on signal strength from multiple WiFi APs. That would however require multiple access points and knowing where they are. I suppose over time, if you know where you are, based on the GPS, and see APs, you could geolocate the APs with enough accuracy to then use their calculated position to extrapolate yours, when you are out of GPS coverage.

Seems pretty optimistic to me. I note they are also working on something that uses GSM/GPRS phones to gelocate. That actually makes a little more sense. I at least think you can get locations of cell towers from somewhere, which isn't typically true of random WiFi APs.

[Jon Westfall]

Well, I may try it out later if I get a chance. The walking man graphic on their homepage is pretty humerous though... IMHO

[155]

This is an assisted gps service.

Check it out here :)

http://www.gpspassion.com/forumsen/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=30262

[RKosin]

Hokum is a strong summary but the practice and the laws of physics leave only one conclusion. WiFi access points have no sense of place were as cellular attennas do for propagation of signal and cell capacity. So moving from a location intelegent system to one that is geographical dumb presents the problem...I know were I was but that does not tell me where I am now...but some twenty dollars poorer. :(

[DanielTS]

A radio beacon (802.11, GSM, ..) location system :
http://www.placelab.org/

Free software downloads :
http://www.placelab.org/toolkit/

[indiekiduk]

A radio beacon (802.11, GSM, ..) location system :
http://www.placelab.org/

Free software downloads :
http://www.placelab.org/toolkit/

Place lab is java and all JVMs on pocket have never worked well, slow and sometimes apps just vanish. Placelab requires you to download a database if they have your area, however alwaysongps gives you a wifi location instantly when you lose gps. Plus alwaysongps is way more friendly to use.

[indoorLBS]

I guess by now, the industry is aware of all the different GPS/non-GPS positioning systems that use Wi-Fi.

You can learn more how positioning systems like AlwaysOnGPS or Navizon work on this website:

http://indoorLBS.com

This is website is dedicated to alternative and complimentary positioning technologies to GPS, including Wi-Fi positioning and Tv-positioning.