WiGLE: Wireless Network Mapping

[skowalak]

A similar project that also tracks cell towers and bluetooth beacons in addition to WiFi is https://beacondb.net . Since Mozilla Location Services shut down they have been a good alternative for geolocation and they are public domain. Unfortunately, data dumps are currently not available, though.

[eliaspro]

The great thing about BeaconDB: the API-compatibility to MozillaLocationService. So apps just need to update their endpoint to continue working.

[Havoc]

Looking at areas I'm familiar with this is picking up a ton of non-fixed APs - in fact more mobile than fixed. Guessing that's cellphones with tethering on?

[typpilol]

I've done wigle for a while

A ton of it is cars with built in hotspots. The other is mobile hotspots left on while on the highway.

[move-on-by]

If you want to be excluded from this - as well as from: Google, Microsoft, Apple lists- you have to add ‘_nomap’ to the end of your wifi name.

[eigencoder]

I thought it was _optout_nomap (the _optout for Microsoft, _nomap for Google/Apple)

[xd1936]

See also: https://beacondb.net/

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40895672

[jjkaczor]

Man - I loved this "back-in-the-day", uh... 23-years ago...

[acka]

I feel you... Running NetStumbler as well as some other tools such as Kismet on a laptop using an Orinoco Wi-Fi PCMCIA card with special firmware / drivers which offered 'Monitor Mode', those were the days...

[edm0nd]

I still go around and war drive and upload em to WiGLE!

They make it really easy now. They even have an app you can download on your phone and just open up while driving and start logging and then it just uploads it to WiGLE when you hit stop.

[nunobrito]

Thank you for sharing. Didn't knew it.