Google Maps has a feature somewhat like this. Look at <a href="http://www.google.com/mobile/gmm/mylocation/index.html">http://www.google.com/mobile/gmm/mylocation/index.html</a> or <a href="http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2007/11/new-magical-blue-circle-on-your-map.html">http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2007/11/new-magical-blue-circle-on-your-map.html</a><br>
<br>/Esbjörn<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Jun 25, 2008 at 7:32 AM, Gora Mohanty <<a href="mailto:gora@sarai.net">gora@sarai.net</a>> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
On Wed, 25 Jun 2008 09:57:28 +1200<br>
"Robin Paulson" <<a href="mailto:robin.paulson@gmail.com">robin.paulson@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
[...]<br>
<div class="Ih2E3d">> > Here's another idea: Record signal strength and position information for<br>
> > generating a coverage map. We can record tower code, signal strength, and<br>
> > phone location. This information could be used with the Open Street Map data<br>
> > to generate a real-world coverage map. This could also be useful during an<br>
> > emergency in a remote area. Instead of just knowing where the towers are I<br>
> > could look at the coverage map generated from other users.<br>
> ><br>
> > What do you folks think?<br>
><br>
> great idea<br>
><br>
> some work has already started on a tagging scheme for this, have a<br>
> look on the osm wiki:<br>
><br>
> <a href="http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/index.php/Proposed_features/Communications_tower" target="_blank">http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/index.php/Proposed_features/Communications_tower</a><br>
><br>
> so there are others with the same idea<br>
</div>[...]<br>
<br>
We were kicking around this idea for a while. There are some problems<br>
that we faced with this when trying to build a generic application:<br>
(a) Many (most?) phones do not give a J2ME programmer easy access to<br>
GSM data (cell ID, LAC, signal strength, etc.) for all visible towers,<br>
though these data can be obtained through serial AT commands, (b) It<br>
is much easier to get GPS data, say from an external bluetooth GPS<br>
device into a J2ME application running on a phone (requires JSR179)<br>
<br>
None of these apply to OpenMoko, so I can easily envisage an application<br>
that maps cell towers by sending GPS + GSM data to a central server<br>
over GPRS, or SMS, or storing these data, and syncing it once in a<br>
while. If there is interest in this, we would be glad to collaborate<br>
on a solution.<br>
<br>
Regards,<br>
<font color="#888888">Gora<br>
</font><div><div></div><div class="Wj3C7c"><br>
_______________________________________________<br>
Openmoko community mailing list<br>
<a href="mailto:community@lists.openmoko.org">community@lists.openmoko.org</a><br>
<a href="http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community" target="_blank">http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community</a><br>
</div></div></blockquote></div><br>