Skyhook Wireless Announces Upgrade to Public SDK and Expanded Platform Support
SDK Now Supports Most Wi-Fi Platforms with GPS NMEA Compatibility and Improved Positioning
BOSTON, MA - September 10, 2007 - Skyhook Wireless, provider of the Wi-Fi Positioning System (WPS), today announced a major upgrade to the company's Software Development Kit (SDK). By broadening platform support to the majority of Wi-Fi enabled devices, adding GPS NMEA compatibility, and improving positioning accuracy, Skyhook has greatly enhanced the SDK for performance and easy integration into any developer's mobile application. The new version of the SDK is available today for free download at www.skyhookwireless.com/developers/sdk.php
Skyhook Wireless was founded in 2003 to capitalize on the growth of Wi-Fi and the emerging market for location based services. Most mobile devices lack native positioning systems or rely on technologies that struggle in densely populated and indoor environments. As a software-only system, WPS addresses these issues by offering the highest indoor availability and the best overall urban reliability of any existing location platform.
Broadened platform support and continued expansion of WPS coverage gives developers access to users on almost all Wi-Fi devices in cities and towns across the world. The SDK now supports the Windows Vista™, Mac OS X™, Symbian™ and Linux™ platforms. These platforms are supported in addition to the original Windows XP™, Windows Mobile™ and Windows CE™ platforms. WPS coverage now includes 19 million access points and 70% of the US, Canadian, and Australian populations. European coverage already includes London, Amsterdam, and Barcelona, and Skyhook plans to cover the majority of the European population by the end of 2007.
Along with more platforms and more users, the upgraded SDK also provides developers with access to a whole new class of devices. WPS can now be deployed in autonomous mode with little or no network connectivity. This device-centric mode is ideal for devices like portable media players and portable navigation devices which only access the network periodically. In addition, velocity estimation, key for accuracy in navigation, has been improved by almost 50%.
Skyhook has added two new features to the SDK, GPS compatibility and confidence estimation, to make deployment easier than ever for developers. Skyhook's Virtual GPS feature now makes the SDK compatible with any GPS NMEA application. As a result, applications that already support GPS, like navigation or tracking, require no additional development for SDK deployment. The SDK also now produces a highly accurate confidence estimation which developers can use to define the way that location information is displayed in their applications. By making known the specific degree of positioning information accuracy, developers maintain confidence in the system and provide a better user experience.
"The performance enhancements and broadened platform support included in today's SDK release allow application developers to integrate location awareness into their applications on nearly all Wi-Fi enabled devices," said Ryan Sarver, director of product development at Skyhook Wireless.
Some of the most exciting location-aware applications are in gaming. The notorious "Big Games" developers, area/code games, have already successfully deployed the SDK in the location-aware game Plundr. In the first ever location-based game for the PC, Plundr users are pirates, and physical locations become islands for pillaging. There are already several thousand active players and over 1500 of Plundr's "islands" have been discovered in real-world physical space. "Interest in Plundr has exploded over the last few months, not only from the players, but from game publishers," said Kevin Slavin, managing director and co-founder of area/code. "Skyhook's technology delivers precise user location directly into Plundr's gameplay. We've even been able to prototype the game on the Nintendo DS, using Skyhook's WPS. Based on Plundr's success, it's clear that location-based gaming is heading towards the mainstream, and Skyhook will be a key enabler in this new landscape." Plundr is available to play online now at http://plundr.areacodeinc.com/.
uLocate, provider of WHERE™, the world's first GPS widget platform, will also collaborate with Skyhook to take advantage of its location technology in mobile devices. "WHERE eliminates the technical barriers that developers face when creating mobile LBS applications," said Matt Gross, director of product management, uLocate Communications. "By including Skyhook's location technology, we can extend the reach of our developers' content and applications to a broader range of mobile phones." Developers interested in the WHERE developer program can get more information at www.where.com/create.
- Contact
-
Beth Winkowski
Winkowski Public Relations
978) 649-7189
bwinkowski@att.net