Comparison of WiFi positioning on two mobile devices

Metropolitan WiFi positioning is widely used to complement GPS on mobile devices. WiFi positioning typically has very fast time-to-first-fix and can provide reliable location information when GPS signals are too weak for a position fix. Several commercial WiFi positioning systems have been developed in recent years and most newer model smart phones have the technology embedded. This study empirically determined the performance of WiFi positioning system on two different mobile devices. Skyhook’s system, running on an iPhone and a laptop, was selected for this study. Field work was carried out in three cities at a total of 90 sites. The positional accuracy of WiFi positioning was found to be very similar on the two devices with no statistically significant difference between the two error distributions. This suggests that the replicability of WiFi positioning on different devices is high based on aggregate performance metrics. Median values for positional accuracy in the three study areas ranged from 43 to 92m. These results are similar to earlier independent evaluations of Skyhook’s system. The number of access points (APs) observed on the iPhone was consistently lower than that on the laptop. This lower number of APs, however, was not found to reduce positional accuracy. In general, no relationship was found between the number of APs and positional accuracy for either device, counter to earlier findings. The results indicate, however, that WiFi positioning can be achieved with a small number of APs (5–10), but that increased numbers of APs do not contribute to improved positional accuracy. Despite the agreement in aggregate performance metrics between the two devices, the replicability of WiFi positioning using Skyhook’s system in terms of getting the same location by using two different devices at approximately the same place and time was relatively poor. Implications for location-based services on mobile devices are discussed.