Certainly not the fact that Google is estimating location from cell strength; that’s pretty low-tech and has been done in 911 call centres for quite some time.
What I think is cool is that they are using the 15% of Mobile Maps users who do have GPS to populate their database of cell tower locations.
Once more cell phones support wi-fi (will this EVER happen in North America?) they’ll be able to take advantage of the same infrastructure to build their wi-fi location database.
-J
Well, N95, for one, have Cell, GPS, and WiFi, so assumedly they’ve already been collecting this information.
Navizon does bring up a good questions about what to think of the inexplicit collecting of information.
Hey Andrew…
For sure, there are privacy concerns. Personally, I don’t really have a problem with it unless the data is tagged against a person or unique identifier, but I can see the concerns.
Like a true geek, I guess I am more interested in the technology. It must be hard to develop a precise location from two measurements that are so variable/fuzzy. I guess that with lots and lots of data anything can be precise though…
I wonder if Google is going to push for compass, altimeter, and range finder to be added to cell phones to make it easier to capture the world for them? :)
When will the Verizon Network support this? It seems as though they are always behind in the game of new technology but they have the best coverage.