This looks a lot like an early version of a game we are developing at Georgia Tech's Mobile Technologies Group lab. PictoHunt (http://mtg.gatech.edu/news.php) is a locative photo-hunt that uses the DS & WiFi Triangulation.
The system in the picture looks like it sniffs out its position, does a server connect/query, parses the return (a good DS XML parser would be cool), and then simply displays the return. It isn't actively determining its Lat/Long coordinates. If you reverse geo-code the coordinates it displays, it lands you in either an Irish Bar or Chow Baby restaurant. One of them must have open WiFi. We followed a similar course early on, but we found that it wasn't the best solution.
Often you can sniff out your location based on the WiFi around you, but if none of the networks are open, you can't perform the server query. We're moving to a model where every time the DS encounters an open WiFi network, it downloads the latest 'map' info and stores it. Obviously as our 'map' scales, we will be improving the solution (probably just storing your immediate area).
As far as WiFi vs. GPS: We have a custom GPS system as well, but there are situations were GPS isn't the best. In areas with a lot of tall buildings, multi-pathing errors through off your GPS accuracy. Also GPS isn't a very workable solution if you want to create an experience in an in-door mall. Basically WiFi Triangulation and GPS are two clubs in the locative golf bag. You simply use the best on for the task at hand.
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This looks a lot like an early version of a game we are developing at Georgia Tech's Mobile Technologies Group lab. PictoHunt (http://mtg.gatech.edu/news.php) is a locative photo-hunt that uses the DS & WiFi Triangulation.
The system in the picture looks like it sniffs out its position, does a server connect/query, parses the return (a good DS XML parser would be cool), and then simply displays the return. It isn't actively determining its Lat/Long coordinates. If you reverse geo-code the coordinates it displays, it lands you in either an Irish Bar or Chow Baby restaurant. One of them must have open WiFi. We followed a similar course early on, but we found that it wasn't the best solution.
Often you can sniff out your location based on the WiFi around you, but if none of the networks are open, you can't perform the server query. We're moving to a model where every time the DS encounters an open WiFi network, it downloads the latest 'map' info and stores it. Obviously as our 'map' scales, we will be improving the solution (probably just storing your immediate area).
As far as WiFi vs. GPS: We have a custom GPS system as well, but there are situations were GPS isn't the best. In areas with a lot of tall buildings, multi-pathing errors through off your GPS accuracy. Also GPS isn't a very workable solution if you want to create an experience in an in-door mall. Basically WiFi Triangulation and GPS are two clubs in the locative golf bag. You simply use the best on for the task at hand.