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On the other hand, those "rough coordinates" you get from a WiFi scan may be hundreds of miles away from your actual location. WiFi networks move. For example,
by nybble41 5y ago
On the other hand, those "rough coordinates" you get from a WiFi scan may be hundreds of miles away from your actual location. WiFi networks move.
For example, I have a 4G hotspot with a proper antenna for areas with poor reception. While traveling to a campground the location remains accurate so long as I'm using Maps for navigation (with GPS). Shortly after I arrive and activate my hotspot, however, my phone starts reporting that I'm at the last place I stayed. And it generally keeps doing that for several days (until I'm about ready to leave) before their database finally updates. If I force a GPS fix—which takes longer due to the bad initial guess—it shows the right place for a while and then reverts once GPS is no longer active. What I want is for it to ignore all the mobile hotspots around me[0] and just use GPS and fixed sources such as cell towers. An out-of-date GPS fix would be better than its guess based on WiFi scanning, but Maps no longer supports navigation without what they laughably refer to as "Google Location Accuracy" enabled. There isn't even an option to include the more reliable sources such as cellular service and local sensors (inertial navigation) while excluding WiFi.
[0] Yes, I know I could rename the hotspot to use some ugly suffix or other ("_no_map", I think?) to avoid it being recorded in the database. That doesn't help with all the other mobile hotspots I don't control.