Right. The user would need an app to do this. Cary
> On Jan 19, 2015, at 11:44 AM, Richard, Joel M <richar...@si.edu> wrote: > > I thought that the Smithsonian was working with ... someone on this. Maybe > Google since they are mapping the insides of some of our museums. The process > they used goes something like this: > > They send a person to walk around the building with a laptop measuring the > varying strengths of signal from all of the wifi access points from many > physical locations in the building and record that info into a database. Then > as a person walks around the building, they know where they are based on the > relative strengths of the various devices. If a device moves or is replaced, > then you have to measure again to get a new database. > > You don't actually need to connect to the access point to know the strength > of signal from it. Retail stores are also starting to use this technology to > track what parts of the store people spend time in. They can track the > location of a particular wifi device even if it's not connected to the > network. So the tech exists, to work both ways. :) > > --Joel > > > Joel Richard > Lead Web Developer, Web Services Department > Smithsonian Libraries | http://library.si.edu/ > (202) 633-1706 | richar...@si.edu > > ________________________________________ > From: Code for Libraries [CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] on behalf of Cary Gordon > [listu...@chillco.com] > Sent: Sunday, January 18, 2015 11:52 PM > To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU > Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Wi-Fi location triangulation > > It shouldn’t be impossible, but it would be tricky. Normally, users connect > to one access point at a time. To locate a user would require connecting to > two or three. I am sure that there is some utility library to do this, but it > would need to be incorporated in an app and loaded on the user side. > > Cary > >> On Jan 18, 2015, at 7:24 AM, Fleming, Jason <flemi...@uncw.edu> wrote: >> >> Has anyone used Wi-Fi to determine a user's position within the library to >> help them zero in on a book's location using their mobile browser? >> >> I've seen a number of interesting articles and posts, but haven't come >> across any actual use cases. I'm wondering if all the metal shelving in a >> library would make this impossible? >> >> Jason Fleming >> University of North Carolina Wilmington >> flemi...@uncw.edu
