Welcome to nine years ago
Wireless Geographic Logging Engine: Making maps of wireless networks since 2001. 20,430,834 points from 1,091,231,717 unique observations.
http://wigle.net
Posts by bobzilla (wigle.net)
4 publicly visible posts • joined 5 Mar 2010
UK data watchdog to quiz Google on Streetview Wi-Fi database
Google Street View logs WiFi networks, Mac addresses
Exiled iPhone Wi-Fi apps move to Cydia
Apple yanks Wi-Fi detectors from iTunes
Friday 5th March 2010 15:53 GMT
No app for that
At the Wireless Geographic Logging Engine ( http://wigle.net ), a database and mapping system for "Net Stumbling" or "War Driving" hobbyists, we've seen the iPhone provide a low barrier-to-entry for this hobby. It combines a GPS with a Wifi radio, but it can only work when apps like Wifi-Where, WiFiFoFum and others are allowed to exist.
These apps were inspected for months before finally getting through the nebulous App Store approval process. Some have been available for months or even years. Now, arbitrarily, they are banned. If they use API calls that Apple didn't want them to, why were they approved? Why weren't the developers contacted behind the scenes to address any fiddly technical issues Apple might foresee?
As users all we see is a useful app, that was paid for, that now can not be updated. We can't find the least used frequency channels to set our access points to, can't take surveys of campus wireless coverage or find rogue wifi on a corporate network. And we can't help with wireless mapping projects. There's no app for that.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
