XPost: comp.mobile.android, alt.internet.wireless   
   From: catwheezel@operamail.com   
      
   On 2016-02-05, Chris  wrote:   
   > Andy Burns  Wrote in message:   
   >> Alice J. wrote:   
   >>   
   >>> I saw your followup that Google documents insist on two WiFi MACs:   
   >>   
   >> Repeating the exact query I used last night with the same pair of MAC   
   >> addresses this morning, the location returned has altered at the 7th   
   >> decimal of precision so it seems it's a (near?) realtime process   
   >> updating the MAC database with the GPS locations from the phones/tablets.   
   >   
   > Unlikely. That level of difference is probably within error and   
   >  possible beyond the precision of the stored information.   
   >   
   >> For several years google maps "satellite" imagery has had a reasonably   
   >> accurate position for my postal address, but since they updated the   
   >> imagery a few weeks ago (it shows my new lawn) they now think my address   
   >> is four houses along and on the wrong side of the street, so 1/4 inch of   
   >> precision for the MAC address, but 100 yard accuracy on the map!   
   >>   
   >   
   > Exactly why all this concern regarding 'privacy' is wasted effort.   
      
   Google may know the latitude and longitude of a static WiFi access point   
   with enough accuracy to get you within range of its signal but they   
   don't know its postal address - and they don't know the latitude and   
   longitude of house numbers (mostly [1]); they infer from the number   
   roughly where on the street/road/avenue/close/alley/whatever it's likely   
   to be, using an algorithm that includes such things as the highest and   
   lowest numbers in the street and the length of the street and the size   
   of each plot and the postal sorting codes or any other data they may   
   have for that street or region or city or whatever.  Like all other   
   geo-location services they can be a long way out in rural areas.   
      
   This means that for instance Google Maps is quite sure my router is   
   located in someone else's home and that I live exactly where I don't -   
   and those two places are not only both wrong but also different.  They   
   aren't far apart though - this is a highly built up area and I can 'see'   
   15 WiFi routers from my arm chair - but it looks as though Google   
   haven't associated my router with me; they've merely associated both the   
   router and my home to the same crowded vicinity.   
      
   [1] It's just a guess but I expect they do know the co-ordinates for   
   1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and some other addresses.   
      
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