build an app to crowd-source public transport wifis

[derhuerst]

Wifi access points mounted close to public transport infrastructure can help in building user-friendly, context-aware navigation apps. For example, an app could you the BSSID or MAC address of the current WiFi access point to determine where in a station you are.

Large corporations will be able to deduce this data from their WiFi tracking data bases. Let's crowd-source this information a) to make information available to the community, and b) to level the corporate playing field.

I imagine the app flow as follows:

1. on open, the app will try to locate me via geolocation services
   • if that worked fine, it will ask me to confirm the station it computed
   • if it didn't work, i will have to manually enter the station name
2. it will ask a server which parts of the station haven't been mapped yet
3. it will scan wifis, allow me to select the one i want to enter¹
   • for each BSSID/MAC found, it will ask me to specify as precisely as possible where the accesspoint is, e.g. via map or platform
   • it may also ask me which other platforms this access point can be found from
4. it will send the published data to a server, which will
   • make the data available publicly
   • let other apps determine if the station has already been mapped

¹ for legal reasons we probably need to use a white list of ESSIDs, as personal wifi names might fall under data sovereignty & protection rules

[derhuerst]

• We should probably require more more than one person entering data about one access point, in order to prevent accidental and purposeful mis-mapping.
• It would be really cool to have an incentive to map data. Even though it would make the project more complex, gamification would be cool.

[derhuerst]

@ubahnverleih just gave a talk about tracing Berlin subway WiFis and ways to build more precise positioning.