Wifi Mashup

I’ve been wanting to do a cellular coverage mashup for a while. My idea is to allow consumers with mobile devices to run a little program on their device that uploads RSSI to a remote server. I think this would be an excellent way to keep the cell phone carriers in check via live coverage maps. No more marketing hype about getting five bars across the entire US. The mashup would tell the truth.

I don’t have much time anymore to take on such large tasks. The largest task being the mobile app that runs on multiple device operating systems. So I’ve settled for something that’s nearly as cool….and a LOT less work. WiFiFoFum keeps track of WiFi access points and allows me to integrate this with my Bluetooth GPS receiver. I’ll post later about my hardware configuration.

This means I can detect wireless access points and their physical location. All of this is uploaded to my server and displayed on a Google Map, aka Wifi Mashup. While I’m still having a few problems with WiFiFoFum (it’s still in beta) the current version seems to work reasonably well.

Check out the screen below and click on it for the interactive version. I’m playing around with the idea of a public beta where everyone with proper hardware can upload their access point locations. I think it would make for an interesting community.