Use BeaconDB as online positioning service

General
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So, a friend of mine sent me this article

where the /e/ os community is saying that since the mls (mozilla location services) closed, they are now switching to this new BeaconDB service

It seems to be an opensource system aimed (as they write) on transparency, where they gather cell tower infos based on data gathered by users

Could this be used on sailfish too?i don’t know if it’s feasible but it seems nice

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Reading

https://beacondb.net/

What is cool is they claim their API is compatible with MLS, so if that’s true that means updating existing geoclue (v1!) plugin for MLS instead of writing a new one, which sounds easier.

Also, there is mention of Mozilla browsers being able to use that service simply via about:config switch(es).

Let’s hope this works out - I mean Mozillas MLS was great too but was taken down apparently by a patent troll or at least claim by a patent owner, no technical or other reasons.

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See discussion in:

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So today mal mentioned it and here are instructions

you gotta build new GitHub - mer-hybris/geoclue-providers-mlsdb which is no brainer if port is yours

and add /etc/gps_xtra.ini file with content

[MLS]
CUSTOM_URL=https://api.beacondb.net/v1/geolocate
CUSTOM_KEY=geoclue_sailfishos

That will probably arrive in next sfos release

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So i’ve tried it and it seems to be working, very poorly as it is telling me i’m on the opposite side of the city but non the less working

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Well this seems to be users contributed so i suppose it’s just too new?

Anyway, i kinda think this may still be useful, rather than not having anything…

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I mean i still have offline mozilla database that is working (also very poorly)

Also i only have one cell tower so you can’t really triangulate anything

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That’s very cool!

I guess a task for community devs is to build some kind of “stumbler” app or plugin to contribute got BeaconDB, so the geoclue_sailfishos agent gets some credit for contributing back.

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A “Bacon” of hope for the Community, sorry couldn’t resist. :grin:

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The issue is that puremaps doesn’t use the a-gps at all. It completely ignores it. gpsinfo app displays position but puremaps just doesn’t care

Also also i don’t think wifi networks are being used at all and those might help positioning a LOT

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Pure maps uses a-gps, it has exactly the same information which gpsinfo has.

Your problem is however with pure maps but for a different reason:
https://forum.sailfishos.org/t/pure-maps-refuse-gps-signal/22992/5

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A bacon of hope?
Yummie :yum:

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ah thats one issue down thanks

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To anyone trying this, I suggest we use the following as User-Agent or X-Nickname values for community work:

  • geoclue_sailfishos-community
  • geoclue_sailfishos-community_testing
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Getting gps location is VERY easy, you could do whole app for this using javascript only

Of course i’m not going to cause I’ve got million more important projects but that should be most of the work

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Thanks!

Considering extending LiveTrack with such functionality.
While it’s not intended for this initially, it has all the plumbing in place.

Then again, a binary daemon tied closely to ofono and geoclue would probably be smarter.

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No, no. You ARE on the opposite side of the city. Tsk. Tsk. Tsk :slight_smile:

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You probably mean trilaterate, since most phones lack directional antennas. :grinning:

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Was not aware of this word thanks

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Who could build this PR Release 0.2.3: Merge pull request #40 from mer-hybris/custom_api · mer-hybris/geoclue-providers-mlsdb · GitHub for aarch64 X10III?