Today I started the iPad maps application. Very strange, the iPad picked my location with an excellent precision.
So the positioning/location/find me feature works.
So I started to investigate how is that possible.
At first Paola suggested based on some article that she found online that is based on geo-IP or is doing a triangulation of some kind.
Triangulation can be done on 3 different ways (at least using main stream technology). GPS, GSM or WiFi.
The iPad has no GPS or GSM yet. Will be available on the next release, soon I hope.
So the only options remaining are geo IP and WiFi triangulation.
Walked out, and got disconnected from the WIFI. And the maps locate me still works. Also I bet that the IP of the company is not actually mapped as precise.
SO, the only remaining option is WiFi triangulation. I wonder if Google, with the street view, had anything to do with mapping the WiFi coverage.