The future of the wifi location tool is looking pretty bright -- we've got a workng data collection and location tool using just indoor wifi!
The above screen shot is of real wifi scan done using the prototype wifi+gps scanning application that Jorge, Jamon and Yura have been working on. The image shows a series of overlapping circles of varying colours that represent three different algorithms used to calculate a current postion. Green is Yura's algorithm, red is Jorge's, and the blue is a combination of the two. The black dots represent past scans of the wireless environment. Already the application has a 5-10 metre degree of relative accuracy on the floorplan and is able to locate a user on a specific floor of a specific building. The most important part? This ability to locate a user within a given area on a floor only uses wifi signals -- the application doesn't rely on GPS or cellular tracking at all.
Looking forward, the next step is to implement a user friendly interface that can be used to allow users to tag or leave notes about specific locations. Other users can then read and respond at a later date with their own tag/comment. This functionality is similar to Mozilla's recently announced Geode project that locates users in a city using wifi and allows tagging locations. Another task is to create a way to inform users that they are indeed on a particular floor without having to run the data collection tool (which is admittedly a little scary ). The Mozilla Geode interface, complete with a W3C Geolocation API might be just the ticket there too. Finally, refining the algorithm that Yura and Jorge have created to achieve a higher degree of precision may allow users to navigate through areas of specific floors, which would be a truly remarkable achievement indeed!
