I have been making some applications that use geolocation features but I have to admit that whenever I turn off my GPS and rely on the network (WiFi and carrier masts) it sometimes tends to fail on me. If you’re a contact of me on Google Latitude, you will probably have noticed that I’m doing multiple roundtrips of the world in less than 24 hours. And for geolocation apps, that really… sucks!
I don’t know who is to blame for that. Is it the Google database that is not reliable? Is it my handset transmitting wrong data? I’m not going to judge, but this has really become problematic.
If your application is using geolocation features in urban areas, you might consider an alternative that has proven itself on the iPhone: SkyHook Wireless. SkyHook has had an Android and Symbian API for several months now and I have been testing it with one of my applications. The app is VilloHelper! but I haven’t yet put this up on the market, but I must say I’m pretty satisfied by its accuracy.
You can go check it out on their site. Their documentation is explaining how to use it. I’m planning to do some seamless positioning class where I can provide just a parameter for what I’ll be using: GPS, network or SkyHook. I will put this up here any time soon.
“It’s quite in here…”
Indeed, its quite quiet
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Skyhook Wireless, eMich Labs. eMich Labs said: Android network location going berzerk? Use SkyHook XPS!: I have been making some applications that use geolocatio… http://bit.ly/4VTS2e [...]