What is Wireless Mapping

This chapter presents the iSPOTS project, which collects and maps data of WiFi usage on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus in Cambridge, Boston. Instead of simply mapping the locations of WiFi availability, the project is possibly the first to use and analyze log files from the Institute’s Internet service provider and to produce spatial visualizations of the observed activity in real time. The aim is to create a better understanding of the daily working and living patterns of the MIT academic community, which changes due to the emergence of WiFi itself. The MIT wireless IEEE 802.11 network, consisting of 3,000 access points (one of the largest of its kind) offers a privileged environment for this research and, in perspective, can provide a test bed for entire cities.