Cell + WiFi positioning from Navizon, plus make money on the move!

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

While Google Maps is doing a great job of bringing cell based positioning to the masses, it's not the only or even the first to do so, and just lately i've been checking out one of the other players in the market... Navizon.

I'm going to talk about a few different aspects of Navizon.

First, there is the consumer application. Available for a number of platforms including Windows Mobile, the Navizon application basically allows you to pinpoint your position without a GPS device using either cell towers, or wifi access points - a unique approach. 2 versions of the application are available - a lite version (which does cell positioning), and the $24.95 commercial version which includes both cell positioning and the wifi positioning.

So what can you do with the app? You can perform 'find my nearest' type queries, plot your current position on a map, upload your current position, you can locate your Navizon buddies, you can place a 'Geotag' that can be read later by other Navizon users at a location and you can upload data to Navizon. The data i'm referring to here is the cell and WiFi access point data that your device sees as you travel around. Lastly, if you are using the non-lite version of the app, you can even expose Navizon's position as a 'Virtual GPS' for use in other programs. You could effectively provide positioning data to other programs such as Live Search via Navizon!

Does it work? Yes, it really does! Assuming you are within Navizon's coverage area (we'll get to this in a moment), it works really well. Before using Navizon I hadn't really considered today's near ubiquitous WiFi as an enabler to approximate positioning, but the more you think about it, the more it makes sense. The application seems well written and feature packed, and i've been using it for the past week with no real complaints.

So, what's the coverage like? Here we come to the next aspect of Navizon I want to talk about. Navizon's coverage is user contributed. That means that an area will be covered if it has been previously mapped by a Navizon user. This is what I was referring to when I talked about 'data upload' above. Now this is where it gets really cool too. Navizon don't expect you to be nice people and just upload your data for free (although we are of course, right?), they're willling to pay you for it. They're going to give you 10 points for each cell you log, and 2 points for each WiFi AP you log (you only get credited the first time you personally log each individual cell / AP). Every 10,000 points, you can redeem a reward and claim $20 via PayPal.

10,000 points? Whoah, that's a lot, i'll never earn that! You might think that, and to be honest, I was probably of that school of thought.... until I tried it! In the name of research, on Boxing Day, I installed Navizon on my Kaiser. I figured that since I would be driving around between Christmas and New Year, visiting family and always running CamerAware, I might as well have Navizon on too. So, I ran it, it coexisted perfectly with CamerAware, and between then and my return home yesterday (i.e a period of about 1 week of moderate driving), i've clocked up 18,000 points! That's nearly 2 rewards, and nearly $40! :D

Below is a pic of my current Navizon rewards status, and I have also included a screen capture from Navizon from 1 of my journeys. Believe it or not this is 1 journey of only 15 miles through Central London to the Emirates Stadium home of Arsenal on New Years Day. You probably would not clock up these points on any other 15 mile journey, but it goes to show what is up for grabs!

Neato! Anything else? There's a couple of other cool things. The first is that when you refer other people to Navizon, you get awarded 20% of the value of their points. So, for every 10,000 they earn, you get 2,000 too, at no cost to them. Even better for people like me though, is the Navizon Developer API. It allows you to implement Navizon cell positioning in your application for FREE, and potentially even allows developers of GPS based applications such as CamerAware to allow users to earn points directly from within their application. Imagine getting paid just to drive around and be told where the speed cameras are. Brilliant!

OK, sounds great - where do I sign up? Simply head over to the Navizon page (this is my referral link btw), download the application, and get started! If you have any thoughts or questions, feel free to post here, i've been hammering the application pretty intensively the past week :D

Enjoy!

P

[Edit: For anyone who has logged points and referred me, PM me your MoDaCo Username for a small token of my appreciation (a free AdFree sub) :(]

[Edit 2: If you get prompted for a referral code, enter '5E5B59565E'. Thanks! :D]

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

They pay too :(

P

[Guest Kimbie]

Signed up Paul with your referral link :(

Kimbie

[Guest Magnetic_dud]

For me it doesn't work <_<

what is wrong?

[Guest Stuart_f]

They pay too :(

P

But they short changed you 40 cents!

[Guest Kimbie]

But they short changed you 40 cents!

That 40 cents is crossed over Paypals palm

[Guest simonster]

Might have missed it but ... I think there should be a MoDaCo public group on Navizion.

Si

[Guest Kallisti]

Might have missed it but ... I think there should be a MoDaCo public group on Navizion.

Si

Coudln't have mentioned this before I drove to Ireland and back with GPS switched on all the way?

[Guest tsutton]

Might have missed it but ... I think there should be a MoDaCo public group on Navizion.

Si

Was going to ask about that - would be good.

[Guest nycnerd]

Yes Paul, you are right. We may think that 10000 points is too much to earn. I just stood outside my apartment for 5 min and when i checked my account after that i got almost 250 points. This is awesome. Thanks for the tip.

[Guest Magnetic_dud]

i cannot understand how to track :(

it says tracker disabled and the phone icon is turned off..

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

If the phone icon is turned off on Smartphone, you probably need to install the cert CAB, which is on www.navizon.com when visited from your Smartphone¿

P

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

Thanks tsutton and kimbie - your referral points are showing in my account so it definitely works! :(

P

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

Yes Paul, you are right. We may think that 10000 points is too much to earn. I just stood outside my apartment for 5 min and when i checked my account after that i got almost 250 points. This is awesome. Thanks for the tip.

If (as your name suggests) you are in NYC, you should be able to earn very wel due to the volume of Cells and APs in metropolitan areas (like my short drive across London mentioned above)!

P

[Guest Kimbie]

Seems to be working fine, was amazed at my short 15 mile drive on the A15, i came across 86 APs and 15 cell sites

Kimbie

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

I'm amazed there's not more replies to this topic :(

P

[Guest peterweg]

I've been using Navizon for over a year. I once went from Battersea to the West end and returned with over 5000 points. When I started most of central London was un-mapped, so i decided to map Covent garden, the City etc on foot. I earned $120, got fit and saw lots of London. The number of AP's in some places is astounding and its more than capable of positioning you within 2-3meters, the higher the building density the better the mapping which is completely the opposite of GPS. I've also taken it on holiday to a few ski resorts and mapped the Eurostar journey to the resorts.

It works with Google maps and other navigation software to simulate a GPS device. The software has many features and advantages over other mapping applications, for instance you can store the maps tiles locally to any size so you can do it at home via wifi and avoid data download via the cell service.

Edited January 4, 2008 by peterweg

[Guest tsutton]

The only downside I can see is that with GPS, WiFi and phone on all the time, it eats up the battery! :(

[Guest peterweg]

The only downside I can see is that with GPS, WiFi and phone on all the time, it eats up the battery! :(

Thats true but you have the option of setting how often the wifi is checked, Navizon can mange the power consumption, mapping at high speed uses power quickly if you just want to get your position its barely noticeable. I have an external GPS and getting a quick fix from cold start is far easier than using GPS - which hates getting a fix while you are moving and sometimes fails to do so - stopping while the GPS and applications start up is a pain. Navizon starts almost immediately

Edited January 4, 2008 by peterweg

[Guest tsutton]

I have an old smartphone and external GPS... I wonder if I can wire them up so I can set it up and leave it in my car, tracking all the time. Hmmm! :(

[Guest peterweg]

I have an old smartphone and external GPS... I wonder if I can wire them up so I can set it up and leave it in my car, tracking all the time. Hmmm! :(

If you read the blog there is instructions on getting multiple smart phones to work together with one GPS. The cell mapping only works with one provider at once (unless you are roaming then it picks the nearest cell).

Smart phones are better at picking up cell towers than phone PDA's, apparently.

[Guest MadMatt2002]

Are people finding that the data is auto-synced to the server, or are they having to manually sync?

My data only appears on navizon.com if I do press "sync"

What data settings is anyone using?

Thanks

Matthew

[Guest MadMatt2002]

modaco group created on navizon.

Group name = modaco password = modaco

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

There's an auto sync option tucked away somewhere IIRC, but i've got into the habit of syncing before I exit.

Has anyone bought the pro version? I'm tempted to plough my first 'earnings' back into the pro version to get WiFi positioning.

P

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

Wouldn't Navizon, with it's near instant positioning, be great for geotagging photos?

The developer API means it's possible...

P