Newsletter 39  July 2008/2

Skyhook Wireless, a new form of tracking and location-finding infrastructure, has been given a European launch, promising the possibility of more precise location of people and assets, especially indoors and in dense urban environments.

Whilst Skyhook makes use of conventional GPS signals to do its tracking, it augments these by two other technologies – detecting mobile phone masts, and its speciality, the Wi-Fi Positioning System. This allows Wi-Fi enabled mobile devices to find their location by detecting Wi-Fi networks in their immediate vicinity (a passive process involving no logging on or interaction with them).

Skyhook already claims to have a database of 16 million access points around Europe. The location of each is detected and geolocated by means of its unique MAC address (a constantly broadcast signal), and this data is constantly updated by roving field staff.

Skyhook offers development kits to tracking and location specialists, and already numbers companies such as Apple Computer and Navteq among customers. A UK user is tracking specialist CSR. Skyhook was founded in 2003. It is privately held and is based in Boston, Massachusetts.