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Wifi - we need a database !!!!
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glynny
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Joined: Nov 17, 2005
Posts: 28
Location: Solihull UK

PostPosted: Thu Feb 02, 2006 1:32 am    Post subject: Wifi - we need a database !!!! Reply with quote

Hello all,

did you know that there are over 2500 FREE Wifi hotspots in the UK alone?
I know this cos I've just bought a SDIO LAN card on ebay and i was searching for free internet access all over the country.

Wouldn't it be just peachey if we had a Destinator database like the speed cameras or POI's that we could easily locate them.

I've found sites on the net that lists them & even show individual maps - any bright sparks out there that could help ?

Glynny
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Tim Buxton
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 02, 2006 6:46 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Send me the list if you want, and I'll see what I can do.
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glynny
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 03, 2006 3:30 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ok - I'll try to compile it into an excel spread sheet
Might take a while but I'll post back on progress in a few days.
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Darren
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 03, 2006 9:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Are these publically accessible Free hotspots or private wireless networks that haven't been secured?

I ask because accessing a private network's wireless gateway without their permission is illegal!
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Darren Griffin
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Skippy
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 03, 2006 4:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Darren wrote:
I ask because accessing a private network's wireless gateway without their permission is illegal!


And you wouldn't want to host a database that helps people flout the law, (eg, of Speed Camera locations) would you? Wink
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Darren
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 03, 2006 6:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Skippy wrote:
And you wouldn't want to host a database that helps people flout the law, (eg, of Speed Camera locations) would you? Wink

It doesn't. It breaches no laws or guidelines and is a system expressly supported by the now defunct road safety bill.

However the misuse or abuse of someones personal internet connection is not something to be facilitated by a POI.
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glynny
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PostPosted: Sat Feb 04, 2006 2:51 pm    Post subject: Hotspots Reply with quote

None of the Hotspots are private.

The sites that I have seen are all Public , and are mainly Pubs , Cafe's, Hotels , Libraries and other places such as Hospitals and Council Houses.
There is a 5 mile wide swathe through London where the GLC have provided grants to enable Hotspots etc.
The thought behind them being public & Free is that they will naturally attract more customers - those with a mobile WiFi cpability.

If you are sitting in a cafe or a Pub using a free internet connection what are you likely to do ? Same as me probably - buy a drink or a sandwich etc etc.

If you are in a nice hotel - what is the potential for the hotel ? - well you may just think of that particular Hotel the next time you are local and require a room, or you may book a round of Golf, or sign up to a leisure centre etc.

For Council Houses Hospitals and other Public venues it is those premises that are following the lateset Government drive to bring technology to the masses - so called "Broadband Britain".

The point is that for a relatively small investment these sites attract people that may otherwise not be there - in essence it is free marketing.

I would totally condemn the use of any POI to locate personal, private and insecure hotspots and this is definitely NOT the intention of this database.

GLYNNY
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Darren
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PostPosted: Sat Feb 04, 2006 4:39 pm    Post subject: Re: Hotspots Reply with quote

glynny wrote:
None of the Hotspots are private.

Thanks for the clarification, of course we would welcome such a POI compilation Smile
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Darren Griffin
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glynny
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 09, 2006 3:47 am    Post subject: FREE WIFI DATABASE TRIAL Reply with quote

Hello All,

Well I done it .....I think. Heres a link to the file, just right click & "save as..." to your machine:

http://www.goldenrivers.co.uk/books/FREE_WIFI_HOTSPOTS_VER1.2_DEST.csv

My attempt at a Destinator Favourites File for 342 FREE WIFI Hotspots all over the UK.

It took some doing - into Excel first.
Then a big formatting session and imported into Autoroute 2005 as Pushpins.
Saved back out of Autoroute as a Map then converted with POI Converter to Destinator compatible file, then loaded to my Acer as a Favourite through the Console.

Its on there now - and appears in my favourites with a logo - not tested it yet - so any feedback appreciated.

Hopefully I've got it right - but if you run into any problems let me know & I will (try) to fix......

GLYNNY
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Acer N35
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glynny
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 09, 2006 2:17 pm    Post subject: FORMAT CORRECTIONS REQUIRED Reply with quote

Hello All,

I've made a silly mistake - the descriptions for each hotspot have commas in - so when I convert to a comma delimited csv file it throws out the Lat/Longs in differing cells for each entry.

Apparently this causes a problem, so some heavy duty formatting still required........

Please ignore previous post. I'll repost when done.

GLYNNY
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Acer N35
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I can never think of anything clever to put here.....
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glynny
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Location: Solihull UK

PostPosted: Thu Feb 09, 2006 3:47 pm    Post subject: DESTINATOR FREE WIFI HOTSPOTS FAVOURITE Reply with quote

Hello All,

Right - done it (hopefully).

Cleaned up the formatting, removed extra commas and spaces and uploaded to my server.

You can get the new VERSION 3 here :

http://www.goldenrivers.co.uk/books/FREE_WIFI_HOTSPOTS_VER3_DEST.csv

This time all items display correctly. Use Destinator Console to add to your PDA.

GLYNNY
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Acer N35
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I can never think of anything clever to put here.....
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tomcupr
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 07, 2006 3:32 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks!! This seems usefull :-)
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tomcupr
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 07, 2006 10:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well, I didn't realised that it can't be sorted by distance from Current location. In that case I dont see much point having it. But still can be driving around hoping that one will be nearby :-)

Anyway - good job glynny, thanks
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tomcupr
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 07, 2006 10:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

would it be possible to sort it vy city name? in form I have it (csv) it would be kinda tricky but maybe in previous steps u made... Cheers
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glynny
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Location: Solihull UK

PostPosted: Wed Mar 08, 2006 2:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Been working on the sorting problem - best I have come up with is a fix in Excel. Its a little bit involved so bear with it - the results are (fairly) useable :

1. First of all I created a new entry in my Excel Spread sheet called current location, with relevent Lat & Longs.

2. I then used this current location Lat Long & each entries Lat Long in a VERY complicated formula that worked out the distance between these 2 points. (I found the formula on a technical GPS site.)

3. I then Concatenated each address with the distance calculation and ended up with a column that looks very much like the inbuilt POI - distance to current location plus description.

4. If I sort by this column the entries are sorted by distance to the current location.

The only drawback is that I cant figure out a way to do this on the fly - so if I know I am going to an address in say Newcastle - I enter my current location as my proposed Newcastle location, then sort against this calulation and upload to my PDA. That way by the time I get to Newcastle and look at the Wifi Favourites they are listed in distance order (plus the distance is displayed as well) from that days location in Newcastle.

The following day if I'm in Southampton i have to drop the Southampton location into my formula, re-sort in Excel and export to the PDA presorted relevent to the new location.

It's a little long winded but I am building up a set of the same file presorted for cities all over the UK - I load up the relevent one every night ready for the next day.

By the way - the calc works out the Great Circle distance between 2 points - not the road distance - so if you have points either side of an estuary or a mountain range you can get some spurious results - still its the only way I've come up with so far.

If any one is interested drop me a email and I'll send the Excel calc sheet and a sorted example for any location you like.

Glynny
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Acer N35
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I can never think of anything clever to put here.....
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