I'm trying to work out why Siri wants me to turn on wifi to know my location when I ask it what the weather is. I'm connected to the router via ethernet. How does using wifi identify my location...?
Wifi networks are geolocated.
Even if you are not connected (as in logged in) to networks (and its access points) around you, they can still help triangulate the location.
Wifi networks are geolocated.
Even if you are not connected (as in logged in) to networks (and its access points) around you, they can still help triangulate the location.
Yes.
I was puzzled years ago for the same requests "wifi increases location accuracy".
Then, I noticed that when I was scanning networks (with iStumbler, a Mac app, I was getting coordinates for the networks).
The phone is always polling available networks in the background and can get the name of the network and MAC address (fingerprint) of the access point it is "listening" to.
It helps a lot in situations when you are indoors. Think about a shopping mall. Radio triangulation (wifi/bluetooth beacons) can give great accuracy to navigate within the stores, etc.