Posts Tagged ‘Tracking’

Gaia GPS: Offline Maps, Compass And GPS Tracking For for Outdoor Fans – Padgadget iPad Outdoor Series

Gaia, like it’s very long title explains, is an offline map and GPS app for those times when you are without wireless internet or a 3G network nearby. So, once you have decided where to go on your hike, be sure to download a map of the area ahead of time and you will probably not get lost, probably.

Gaia uses topographical map software from mytopo.com to give you highly detailed maps that you can select and download for offline use. You can use these maps to help you track your hiking, biking, skiing, etc., trip by using your iPad’s location service. Remember, the iPad’s native location service is a battery gobbler, so you don’t want to overdo it with this feature unless you are sure you will have a way to recharge your iPad later.

To track your progress, go to the apps, trip feature and record your trip. You will be able to see pace, moving time, ascent, coordinates, and sunrise or sunset. You can also take pictures with this app in order to get photo waypoints of your trip to email to friends and family.

Additional features include nearby points-of-interest like, campgrounds, hiking trails, parks, important mountains and hills and even nearby historical buildings and museums.

There is a free version of this app that includes advertisements and does not include the ability to buy special trail maps through the app like the paid version does.

What I liked: The topographical maps are highly detailed and download very fast.

What I didn’t like: the points-of-interest listing is not particularly comprehensive. There were a lot of trails that I am aware of that weren’t included.

To buy or not to buy: As much as I love this app, it really doesn’t seem like a bad idea to pick up the free one. If you don’t mind ads, and are not some kind of map junky, this is just as good free as paid.

• App Name: Gaia GPS
• Version Reviewed: 4.6
• Category: Navigation
• Developer: TrailBehind
• Price: $12.99
• Score:

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Location Tracking in iPad and iPhone: Apple Representatives Testify Before the Senate

Earlier today, Bud Tribble, Vice President of Software Technology at Apple, testified before a Senate panel about concerns raised by the location bug found in GPS-enabled iPhones and iPads.

According to Barron’s, Tribble explained the function of the “crowd-sourced location cache,” the mechanism that stores the whereabouts of iOS devices users. Tribble re-iterated Apple’s official position with regard to the issue, the company doesn’t track its users, end of story.

We do not share customer information with third parties without our customers’ explicit consent. Apple does not track users’ locations. Apple has never done so and has no plans to do so. An Apple device does not send to Apple any specific device information associated with a user. The purpose of the cache is to allow the device to more quickly and reliably respond to location requests. Apple was never tracking an individual user’s location. The data seen on the iphone was not the location past or present of the iPhone, but the location of cell towers surrounding the phone. Although the cache was not encrypted, it was protected from other apps on the phone.

An article published by the Guardian about the fact that both iPad 3G and iPhone keep track of their user’s whereabouts sparked an outcry amongst iOS users. The issue quickly went all the way to Washington, with a slew of senators and Congressmen demanding answers from Apple – they got them today.

Apple even issued a press release about the issue, to explain that “Apple is not tracking the location of your iPhone [and iPad 3G]. Apple has never done so and has no plans to ever do so.” In the press release, Apple explains that the location feature introduced in iOS 4 is nothing more than a way for iOS devices to calculate their location faster.

The iPhone is not logging your location. Rather, it’s maintaining a database of Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers around your current location, some of which may be located more than one hundred miles away from your iPhone, to help your iPhone rapidly and accurately calculate its location when requested. Calculating a phone’s location using just GPS satellite data can take up to several minutes. iPhone can reduce this time to just a few seconds by using Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower data to quickly find GPS satellites, and even triangulate its location using just Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower data when GPS is not available (such as indoors or in basements). These calculations are performed live on the iPhone using a crowd-sourced database of Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower data that is generated by tens of millions of iPhones sending the geo-tagged locations of nearby Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers in an anonymous and encrypted form to Apple.

Data extracted from an iPhone location file – Credit: Guardian

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Apple Responds to Location Tracking Questions

Apple has just released a statement, detailing how the company is using location data. This is an issue that we’ve covered extensively since researchers revealed last week that the iPhone contained a hidden file storing latitude, longitude, and timestamps.

In the statement, the company says, “Apple is not tracking the location of your iPhone. Apple has never done so and has no plans to ever do so.” Apple claims that the iPhone is not logging location, instead, it’s keeping a database of Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers around your current location (up to a hundred miles away). This is to help your iPhone quickly calculate its location when requested, for example, by an app. The iPhone uses a crowd-sourced database of Wi-Fi and cell tower data generated by tens of millions of iPhones uploading their geo-tagged locations, which Apple says is all anonymous and encrypted.

Each phone gets a small cache of this overall data sent from Apple, a cache that is not encrypted. When you sync your phone, iTunes makes a backup of this location data, but will cease to do so in the future. Apple claims that they cannot locate anyone based on the data collected. Apple says, “This data is sent to Apple in an anonymous and encrypted form. Apple cannot identify the source of this data.”

Apple does acknowledge two “bugs” in the software. Collected geo-location data is being stored for too long – up to a year, and the Phone software continues to collect Wi-Fi and cell tower data with Location Services turned off. Apple believes that the iPhone only needs 7 days of stored data, and the phone should not continue to transmit data after Location Services has been switched off.

Look for a patch in the next few weeks that will fix these problems. The cache size of the Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower database will be reduced in size, the cache will not be backed up in your iTunes, and the cache will be deleted entirely when Location Services is off. Additionally, after the next major iOS software update, the cache will be encrypted on the iPhone.

According to Apple, they’re strong proponents of privacy. “iPhone was the first to ask users to give their permission for each and every app that wanted to use location. Apple will continue to be one of the leaders in strengthening personal information security and privacy.”

It turns out that Apple isn’t tracking you and your phone, but they do admit to storing too much data in caches and backups, plus acknowledging that phones should be able to turn this data collecting off, a “bugged” feature currently unavailable. It’s unclear, though, if these were true bugs, or the coverup of a company who pushed privacy issues a little too far. Either way, I’m satisfied with Apple’s response and planned changes. Do you think Apple’s response sounds credible? Are you less worried now about Apple’s location tracking software?

Photo credit: Guardian.

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Location Tracking in iPad and iPhone: Just a Bug According to Apple

An article published by the Guardian about the fact that both iPad 3G and iPhone keep track of their user’s whereabouts sparked an outcry amongst iOS users. After the issue went all the way to Washington, with a slew of senators and Congressmen demanding answers from Apple, and after civil lawsuits started to pour in, the Cupertino-based company finally came out of its silence, via a press release published earlier today.

While the location tracking file was discovered some time ago, it didn’t get much coverage until the Guardian published a piece about it last week. For some unknown reason, GPS-enabled iOS devices such as 3G iPad 1/2 and iPhone save the location of their owner on a regular basis, in a file stored on the device, and saved by iTunes each time the device is plugged into a Mac or a PC.

In Apple’s own words, “Apple is not tracking the location of your iPhone [and iPad 3G]. Apple has never done so and has no plans to ever do so.” The press release explains that the location feature introduced in iOS 4 is nothing more than a way for iOS devices to calculate their location faster.

The iPhone is not logging your location. Rather, it’s maintaining a database of Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers around your current location, some of which may be located more than one hundred miles away from your iPhone, to help your iPhone rapidly and accurately calculate its location when requested. Calculating a phone’s location using just GPS satellite data can take up to several minutes. iPhone can reduce this time to just a few seconds by using Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower data to quickly find GPS satellites, and even triangulate its location using just Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower data when GPS is not available (such as indoors or in basements). These calculations are performed live on the iPhone using a crowd-sourced database of Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower data that is generated by tens of millions of iPhones sending the geo-tagged locations of nearby Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers in an anonymous and encrypted form to Apple.

Data extracted from an iPhone location file – Credit: Guardian

When asked about why the files was designed to hold up to a year’s worth of location data, Apple simply explains that a bug prevents iPhone and iPad 3G to purge the file – technically, Apple never planned to record more than seven days’ worth of location data.

This data is not the iPhone’s location data—it is a subset (cache) of the crowd-sourced Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower database which is downloaded from Apple into the iPhone to assist the iPhone in rapidly and accurately calculating location. The reason the iPhone stores so much data is a bug we uncovered and plan to fix shortly (see Software Update section below). We don’t think the iPhone needs to store more than seven days of this data.

Sometime in the next few weeks, Apple will release an update to iOS to clear the issue. The update will:

• reduce the size of the crowd-sourced Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower database cached on the iPhone and iPad
• cease backing up this cache
• delete this cache entirely when Location Services is turned off
• encrypt the location cache on the iPhone.

In other words — much ado about nothing!

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Apple Sued Over iPad and iPhone Location Tracking Issue

An article published by the Guardian about the fact that both iPad 3G and iPhone keep track of their user’s whereabouts sparked an outcry amongst iOS users. After the issue went all the way to Washington, with a slew of senators and Congressmen demanding answers from Apple, civil lawsuits are now pouring in.

According to a Bloomberg report, a couple of iPhone customers in Florida are already suing Apple over the location tracking ‘feature’ introduced in iOS 4.

While the location tracking file was discovered some time ago, it didn’t get much coverage until the Guardian published a piece about it last week. For some unknown reason, GPS-enabled iOS devices such as 3G iPad 1/2 and iPhone save the location of their owner on a regular basis, in a file stored on the device, and saved by iTunes each time the device is plugged into a Mac or a PC.

Data extracted from an iPhone location file – Credit: Guardian

Apple has been surprisingly mute about the issue, a fact that fuels current lawsuits: “Apple hasn’t commented on the matter since the April 20 report was released. [...] We take issue specifically with the notion that Apple is now basically tracking people everywhere they go,” according to Aaron Mayer, an attorney for the plaintiffs.

Interestingly enough, the issue may be nothing more than an iOS bug: according to John Gruber over at Daring’s Fireball, the tracking file was never meant to store as much data as it actually does, and a bug is preventing iOS from purging older location information.

My little-birdie-informed understanding is that [the file] acts as a cache for location data, and that historical data should be getting culled but isn’t, either due to a bug or, more likely, an oversight, i.e. someone wrote the code to cache location data but never wrote code to cull non-recent entries from the cache, so that a database that’s meant to serve as a cache of your recent location data is instead a persistent log of your location history.

Steve Jobs himself commented on the issue, via one of his typically short, straight to the point email, sent to an iPhone user who asked him to explain why Apple was apparently tracking users:

Q: Steve,
Could you please explain the necessity of the passive location-tracking tool embedded in my iPhone? It’s kind of unnerving knowing that my exact location is being recorded at all times. Maybe you could shed some light on this for me before I switch to a Droid. They don’t track me.

A: Oh yes they do. We don’t track anyone. The info circulating around is false.
Sent from my iPhone

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Apple Sued Over iPad and iPhone Location Tracking

An article published by the Guardian about the fact that both iPad 3G and iPhone keep track of their user’s whereabouts sparked an outcry amongst iOS users. After the issue went all the way to Washington, with a slew of senators and Congressmen demanding answers from Apple, civil lawsuits are now pouring in.

According to a Bloomberg report, a couple of iPhone customers in Florida are already suing Apple over the location tracking ‘feature’ introduced in iOS 4.

While the location tracking file was discovered some time ago, it didn’t get much coverage until the Guardian published a piece about it last week. For some unknown reason, GPS-enabled iOS devices such as 3G iPad 1/2 and iPhone save the location of their owner on a regular basis, in a file stored on the device, and saved by iTunes each time the device is plugged into a Mac or a PC.

Data extracted from an iPhone location file – Credit: Guardian

Apple has been surprisingly mute about the issue, a fact that fuels current and future lawsuits: “Apple hasn’t commented on the matter since the April 20 report was released. [...] We take issue specifically with the notion that Apple is now basically tracking people everywhere they go,” according to Aaron Mayer, an attorney for the plaintiffs.

Interestingly enough, the issue may be nothing more than an iOS bug: according to John Gruber over at Daring’s Fireball, the tracking file was never meant to store as much data as it actually does, and a bug is preventing iOS from purging older location information.

My little-birdie-informed understanding is that [the file] acts as a cache for location data, and that historical data should be getting culled but isn’t, either due to a bug or, more likely, an oversight, i.e. someone wrote the code to cache location data but never wrote code to cull non-recent entries from the cache, so that a database that’s meant to serve as a cache of your recent location data is instead a persistent log of your location history.

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iPad and iPhone Location Tracking: Apparently Just a Bug

An article published by the Guardian yesterday about the fact that both iPad 3G and iPhone keep track of their user’s whereabouts sparked an outcry amongst iOS users. In a matter of hours, the issue went all the way to the Washington, as senator Al Franken and Congressman Ed Markey, demanded answers from Apple earlier today.

As it turns out, it would appear that the issue is nothing more than an iOS bug. According to John Gruber over at Daring’s Fireball, the tracking file was never meant to store as much data as it actually does, and a bug is preventing iOS from purging older location information.

My little-birdie-informed understanding is that [the file] acts as a cache for location data, and that historical data should be getting culled but isn’t, either due to a bug or, more likely, an oversight, i.e. someone wrote the code to cache location data but never wrote code to cull non-recent entries from the cache, so that a database that’s meant to serve as a cache of your recent location data is instead a persistent log of your location history.

While the location tracking file was discovered some time ago, it didn’t get much coverage until the Guardian published a piece about it yesterday. For some unknown reason, GPS-enabled iOS devices such as 3G iPad 1/2 and iPhone save the location of their owner on a regular basis, in a file stored on the device, and transmitted to iTunes each time the device is plugged into a Mac or a PC.

While the purpose of the file is unknown, it appears that it was introduced alongside iOS 4, earlier this year.

Data extracted from an iPhone location file – Credit: Guardian

According to Gruber, the next version of iOS will most likely fix the issue, as we predicted yesterday. Users concerned about their privacy can also erase the file, thanks to a new free iOS app available here (jailbreak only).

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Are your iPad and iPhone Tracking your Whereabouts?

According to a new article from the Guardian, security researchers have discovered that iOS devices such as the iPhone and the iPad 3G keep track of your whereabouts. While the ‘feature’ was discovered some time ago, it didn’t get much coverage until the Guardian published a piece about it earlier today.

For some unknown reason, GPS-enabled iOS devices such as 3G iPad 1/2 and iPhone save the location of their owner on a regular basis, in a file stored on the device, and transmitted to iTunes each time the device is plugged into a Mac or a PC.

While the purpose of the file is unknown, it appears that the ‘feature’ was introduced alongside iOS 4, earlier this year. Nobody’s really sure about how much data the file can hold, but the Guardian speculates that the file could hold up to a year worth of data. To add insult to injury, the file does not seem to be hard to find, making it possible “for almost anybody – a jealous spouse, a private detective – with access to your phone or computer to get detailed information about where you’ve been,” according to one of the researchers who helped write the article.

Data extracted from an iPhone location file – Credit: Guardian

While a bit spooky, the presence of this file may not be as bad as it initially seems – after all, that data may be necessary for some of Apple’s services such as Find my iPhone/iPad, or may be used in upcoming iOS features. Moreover, the research shows that the data is not transmitted to Apple. It could also be used to track the location of potential iOS devices thieves.

Until Apple communicates on the file, and hopefully encrypts it in a future iteration of iOS, the speculation about its purpose is not going to go away any time soon.

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