How It Works
Skyhook’s Core Engine is a software-only location system that quickly determines device location with 10 to 20 meter accuracy. View a demo of the Core Engine to see it in action now:
To quickly and reliably arrive at accurate location results, the Core Engine synthesizes data from Skyhook's Wi-Fi Positioning System (WPS), GPS satellites and cell towers with advanced hybrid positioning algorithms. By leveraging the strengths of more than one underlying position technology, the Core Engine provides the best possible location available in any environment.
The following graph illustrates the performance of Skyhook’s Core Engine relative to assisted GPS (A-GPS) and WPS.
XPS is configured to integrate and synthesize the location output of Skyhook's Wi-Fi Positioning System (WPS), GPS and cellular towers (Cell ID). It then uses advanced hybrid positioning algorithms to combine each of these location sources to arrive at a single position with a high degree of confidence.
Wi-Fi Positioning, GPS, and Cell Tower
WPS determines location based on Skyhook's massive worldwide database of known Wi-Fi access points. It performs best where GPS is weakest, in urban areas and indoors. Click here for details on Wi-Fi data collection methodology and coverage.
GPS provides highly accurate location results in "open sky" environments, like rural areas and on highways. But in urban areas and indoors, tall buildings and ceilings block GPS' view of satellites, resulting in serious performance deficiencies in time to first fix, accuracy and availability. GPS or A-GPS alone cannot provide fast and accurate location results in all environments.
Cell tower triangulation provides generalized location results with only 200 - 1000 meter accuracy. It serves as a coverage fallback when neither GPS nor WPS is available. Skyhook maintains a worldwide database of cell tower locations, which increases Core Engine coverage area and helps improve GPS satellite acquisition time.