mapping location of wireless access points?

[tvout]

hi all,
Does anyone know of any kind of utility or application or if it's at all possible to see a map of local wireless access points in an area? I mean local routers not hotspots.
I know you can see the strength of local routers but wasn't sure if there is any way of telling which direction they're in?

[bopdude]

Depending on what platform your using, pda > laptop etc, Makayama do a 'radar' of wireless connections, open and otherwise in the area, as for pinpoint acuracy, I think it would need something with a gps signal

HTH

What is it your looking to do ?

[kpanchev]

In order to do this you need a directional antenna, standard antennas are omni-directional and cannot be used to pinpoint directions. Also you need to do at least 2 detections from different positions and triangulate the exact point of the WAP.

[Jon T]

Originally Posted by kpanchev

In order to do this you need a directional antenna, standard antennas are omni-directional and cannot be used to pinpoint directions. Also you need to do at least 2 detections from different positions and triangulate the exact point of the WAP.

Even then you've got problems with signal reflections. DF'ing isn't as easy as it sounds.

[Kymmy]

Originally Posted by Jon T

Even then you've got problems with signal reflections. DF'ing isn't as easy as it sounds.

I agree with that statement....

[Ramrod]

If your device has GPS then WiFiFoFum is very good at mapping direction and strength of access points....

[tvout]

Originally Posted by bopdude

Depending on what platform your using, pda > laptop etc, Makayama do a 'radar' of wireless connections, open and otherwise in the area, as for pinpoint acuracy, I think it would need something with a gps signal

HTH

What is it your looking to do ?

That's great, cheers. I tried it and it did show two neighbouring routers. One's in the middle of the road. Not sure how I never saw that before
I only have a Linksys router with the standard antennas. I suspect that's incapable of being directional, even using the DD-WRT firmware?

---------- Post added at 16:20 ---------- Previous post was at 16:16 ----------

Originally Posted by bopdude

What is it your looking to do ?

I wanted to try and work out which of my neighbours have wireless. I suspect all the wireless access points are on one side. The idea is to try and move my router/PCs etc further from sources of interference. There used to be only 2 local wireless routers, now 3 are showing up, making it harder to get a channel with the least interference.

---------- Post added at 16:21 ---------- Previous post was at 16:20 ----------

Originally Posted by Ramrod

If your device has GPS then WiFiFoFum is very good at mapping direction and strength of access points....

Sounds good, I have a Nokia N95 (GPS and Wifi), I'll take a look...