If you have a Nokia and are not familiar with Skyhook Wireless, it’s probably about time you did something about this - although, we must warn you now, it’s sadly not the same thing that Batman uses in The Dark Knight... Nevertheless, if you’re a heavy GPS user, then SkyHook Wireless’ new plug-in, Maps Booster, will help you find out your location extremely quickly indeed using its Wi-Fi look-up. Read on after the jump for more details...

Skyhook is ideal for when you’re out of your usual Wi-Fi zones, and while it won’t work in the countryside, not much does, so that’s not too much of a big deal. In short, Skyhook uses which ever Wi-Fi networks are near by, and will pinpoint your location down to the street you’re standing, walking, or sitting on. In addition, Skyhook has another advantage over GPS, which is that it’ll work within buildings too.

The majority of modern smartphones when connecting to a wired or wireless network have a unique MAC address. According to the guys at ElectricPig, “Skyhook uses an algorithm that finds nearby Wi-Fi access points, checks their MAC address against a database and performs some (top secret) calculations to determine the approximate distance between it and the phone.”

Skyhook Wireless is now available on the Symbian S60 platform, thanks to a plug-in known as Maps Booster, and can be downloaded from the Ovi Store. Current handsets that the plug-in will work on are the Nokia N97, Nokia N97 mini, Nokia N95, Nokia E71, and the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic.

Via: electricpig