DIFFERENCES BETWEEN GPS GEOLOCATION AND WIFI GEOLOCATION

Geolocation by means of GPS, or global positioning system for its acronym in English, consists of determining the spatial location of an object in real time, through the triangulation technique and obtaining its geographic coordinates such as latitude and longitude.

This is achieved through the satellites that currently orbit the earth, and through different electronic devices, such as cell phones, tablets or others, through which said coordinates are obtained, that with the help of multiple algorithms, are converted into geographic locations with a very high grade of precision.

This technology is mainly used for asset and people tracking, asset monitoring, displacements from one location to another, cartography and mapping, emergency response, entertainment, among others.

Now, following the line of ideas of geolocation, comes the question of what other alternatives exist to generate spatial georeferencing, where the specific question is

What is WiFi geolocation?

Basically, it consists of determining the geographic location of an object in real time, based on the WiFi networks.

WiFi networks always emit a unique address called BSSID (Basic Service Set Identifier). These addresses are periodically scanned by different providers (Google is one of the main ones), to build worldwide databases that contain the exact location of each of the routers.

In this way, the devices that have a WiFi location system can read the MAC addresses of the routers around them to find the location of the asset/person being monitored. The information (MAC addresses) will be sent to the cloud and there the position of the asset/person will be estimated through the location and potency of the different WiFi networks that have been detected.

The most common use cases for this geolocation technology work optimally in cities and urban environments, where the density of WiFi networks is high. This allows greater precision, making it possible to generate a location even indoors, where GPS location could become a headache. Here is one of the biggest differences between these technologies, since it depends on WiFi networks as input for georeferencing, it only requires the presence of a WiFi Router with its respective coverage to the network.

Even, georeferencing through WiFi allows a series of specific Routers to be configured internally in the Tracker devices, a series of specific Routers, even achieving detection of the asset/person in a vertical position, that is, locating it within a specific space inside of a building, warehouse or closed establishment.

At Tecrea, we are passionate about new technologies that emerge as a result of consumer needs.Helping our clients in their process of creating solutions and adding substantial value to their end clients is what really drives us.

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