Two forty four a.m., the company behind the popular Locale application for Android has integrated XPS positioning technology from Skyhook Wireless into the Locale app.
Skyhook’s XPS utilizes a hybrid combination of GPS, Wi-Fi hotspot locations and cell tower triangulation to provide an incredibly accurate location fix. Locale, a Grand Prize-winner in the inaugural Android Developer Challenge, acts as a settings manager for Android-based phones using location as the impetus to change settings. For example, Locale can detect when you’re arriving home from work and turn your ringer off and forward your emails to your desktop inbox and vice versa upon returning to work.
“Getting an accurate location fix using the Android location APIs requires a lot of battery power and only works outdoors. As soon as the phone steps indoors, location accuracy could be off by a mile,” said two forty four a.m.’s Carter Jernigan in a statement. “So we integrated with Skyhook for hybrid positioning that’s more accurate, faster and requires less power. Our users have certainly noticed a dramatic improvement.”
Locale, which currently has nearly 100, 000 users, is the latest Android application to include Skyhook positioning since the latter company released an Android SDK. ShopSavvy, an Android app that allows users to take a picture of a store product and get information about it, also integrated the Skyhook Android SDK earlier this month.
Skyhook Wireless and two forty four a.m. are based in Boston and Cambridge, respectively.
