GPS

[AVee]

On Tuesday 24 June 2008 14:45, john wrote:
> 2008/6/24 Jisakiel <jisakiel at yahoo.es>:
> [snip]
>
> > - Is it possible then to fetch approximate position from the associated
> > GSM towers then? I guess it depends on the subset of commands the chip
> > implements, but I didn't have the time to read over those *extensive*
> > documents as I'm still finishing my exams. I somehow suspect though that
> > the GSM commands do not cover for that, and that'd be proprietary for the
> > chip... Please correct me if I'm mistaken. I have no idea as well on how
> > precise is that.
>
> [snip]
>
> Well if you mean obtain coordinates via triangulation it is
> technically possible but in reality we are constrained by the GSM
> operators and what information they are willing to give us. If you are
> a large corporation such as Google and throw them some money you will
> get access to such data. As Joe Public you will probably have to rely
> on closed third party API's (e.g. Skyhook) to access similar
> functionality or alternatively try one of the community driven
> database lookup approaches.

I'm no expert on the subject, but my impression was that even a very rough 
position would help to reduce the time to fix. Where rough would be in 
the 'which country' range.
If that's not good enough data fetched from http://celldb.org/ might help as 
well.

AVee

-- 
Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no 
account be allowed to do the job.
  -- Douglas Adams