computer science

Skyhook Wireless

Skyhook Wireless is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Skyhook Wireless rather than just read about it. In short: Skyhook was a location technology company based in Boston, Massachusetts, specializing in location positioning. Founded in 2003, Skyhook initially focused on geolocating Wi-Fi access points by wardriving for commercial purposes.

Key takeaways

Skyhook Wireless belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Skyhook Wireless to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Skyhook Wireless from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Skyhook was a location technology company based in Boston, Massachusetts, specializing in location positioning. Founded in 2003, Skyhook initially focused on geolocating Wi-Fi access points by wardriving for commercial purposes. Skyhook transitioned to developing hybrid positioning.

History Skyhook was founded in 2003 by Ted Morgan and Michael Shean. Skyhook's database was initially gathered through wardriving, when the company sent teams of drivers around the United States, Canada, Western Europe, and selected Asian countries to map out Wi-Fi hotspots. In April 2010, Apple decided to switch iPhones running on iPhone OS 3.2 and newer to their own location database after previously using a combination of Skyhook's and Google's. In September 2010, Skyhook sued Google over the use of Wi-Fi locator technology in cell phones. The complaint claimed that Andy Rubin, Google's Vice President for Engineering, gave Sanjay K. Jha, Chief Executive of Motorola's mobile devices' division, a "stop ship" order, preventing Motorola from shipping phones with the Android operating system using the Skyhook software. The litigation was settled in 2015, with Skyhook receiving $90 million in a settlement with the tech giant, a third of which was spent on legal fees. The figure was shown in a securities filing by Liberty Broadband Corporation, Skyhook's Colorado-based parent company. In February 2014, Skyhook Wireless was acquired by True Position Inc., a subsidiary of Liberty Broadband. In 2016, the two companies merged under the Skyhook brand, now under Liberty Broadband, which is a part of the Liberty Media family. Skyhook also introduced a range of products: Retailer Personas, Power Personas, and On-Demand Personas. In February 2019, Skyhook announced that it was working closely with Qualcomm Technologies to bring Wi-Fi positioning and location-assistance services based on Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear platforms. In September 2019, Mozilla announced changes to commercial use of its Mozilla Location Service, which resulted in SailfishOS location services not being able to use the service anymore. The changes were made due to patent infringement allegations by Skyhook. In February 2020, Deutsche Telekom announced that Skyhook became one of its technology partners. In April 2020, Skyhook partnered with Kyocera to provide location services to DuraXV Extreme, a rugged flip phone. Skyhook and Combain announced a collaboration in a common press release issued in April 2020. In 2022, Qualcomm acquired Skyhook.

Services Skyhook offered a software development kit, which allowed developers to create location-enabled applications using Skyhook's software. The SDK supported Android 2.2 (Froyo), 2.3.x (Gingerbread), 4.0.x (Ice Cream Sandwich), 4.1.x (Jelly Bean), 4.4 (KitKat), 5.0-5.1 (Lollipop), and 6.0 (Marshmallow), including forked platforms such as the Kindle Fire, along with Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X.

See also Hybrid positioning system Mobile phone tracking Local Positioning Systems Wi-Fi positioning system

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Skyhook Wireless

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Skyhook Wireless claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Skyhook Wireless before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Skyhook Wireless ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Skyhook Wireless

In research: Skyhook Wireless appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Skyhook Wireless in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Skyhook Wireless is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2003 establishments in Massachusetts, American companies established in 2003, Companies based in Boston, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Skyhook Wireless outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Skyhook Wireless in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Skyhook Wireless means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Skyhook Wireless out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Skyhook Wireless in simple terms?

Why does Skyhook Wireless matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Skyhook Wireless?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Skyhook Wireless.