Determining wireless access point locations using clustered data points
A method for determining the location of a wireless access point is described Location data points are collected from a plurality of mobile devices associated with a particular access point. The collected location data points are organized into at least two clusters. The location data points are further grouped into sessions based on a characteristic of the location data points. A rank qualifier is applied to each of the organized clusters. The location of the wireless access point is determined based on one or more of the organized clusters.
1. A method, performed by a computer connected to a network, for determining locations of a wireless access points, the method comprising:
receiving a plurality of location data points from a plurality of mobile devices within signal range of a wireless access point, each location data point including data indicative of an estimated distance to the wireless access point;
organizing the plurality of location data points into at least two clusters;
organizing location data points within each of the organized clusters into one or more sessions based on a characteristic of the location data points;
applying a rank qualifier to each of the organized clusters based at least in part on the sessions into the which the location data points were organized within the cluster; and
determining the location of the wireless access point based on the organized and ranked clusters.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein applying a rank qualifier to the organized clusters comprises applying a rank qualifier to the organized clusters based on a measure of session diversity of an organized cluster.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein applying a rank qualifier to the organized cluster based on a measure of session diversity comprises applying a rank qualifier to the organized cluster based on a determined number of sessions associated with the organized cluster.
4. The method of claim 2 , wherein applying a rank qualifier to an organized cluster based on a measure of session diversity comprises applying a rank qualifier to the organized cluster based on a number of location data points in the organized cluster.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein organizing location data points of an organized cluster into one or more sessions based on a characteristic of the location data points comprises organizing location data points of an organized cluster into one or more sessions based on a mobile device identifier associated with the location data points.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein organizing location data points of an organized cluster into one or more sessions based on a characteristic of the location data points comprises organizing location data points of an organized cluster into one or more sessions based on location characteristics associated with the location data points.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving the location data points comprises receiving at least one location data point having global positioning system (GPS) location data.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving the location data points comprises receiving wireless signal strength data from the plurality of mobile devices.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein organizing the location data points into clusters comprises organizing location data points into clusters based on distances between two or more location data points.
10. The method of claim 9 , wherein organizing the location data points based on distances between the location data points comprises organizing location data points based on a minimum distance to a center of a cluster.
11. The method of claim 10 , wherein organizing location data points based on a minimum distance to a center of a cluster comprises organizing location data points based on a minimum distance to a determined centroid of location data points within the cluster.
12. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the location of the wireless access point based on the organized clusters comprises determining the location of the wireless access point based on a set of location data points within a tanked cluster having an applied rank qualifier that indicates a highest rank.
13. A system for determining locations of wireless access points, comprising:
a receiver configured to receive a plurality of location data points from a plurality of mobile devices within signal range of a wireless access point, each location data point including data indicative of an estimated distance to the wireless access point;
a clusterer configured to:
organize the plurality of location data points into at least two clusters, and
group received location data points within each of the organized duster into one or more sessions based on a characteristic of the location data points;
a rank applier configured to apply a rank qualifier to each of the organized clusters based at least in part on the sessions into the which the location data points were organized within the cluster; and
a location determiner configured to determine a location of the wireless access point based on the organized and ranked clusters.
14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the rank qualifier is based on a measure of session diversity of the organized clusters.
15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the rank qualifier is based on a determined number of sessions associated with the organized clusters.
16. The system of claim 14 , wherein the rank qualifier is based on the session with the highest number of location data points.
17. The system of claim 13 , wherein the characteristic of the location data points comprises a mobile device identifier associated with the location data points.
18. The system of claim 13 , wherein the characteristic of the location data points comprises location characteristics associated with the location data points.
19. The system of claim 13 , wherein the location data points include a location data point having global positioning system (GPS) location data.
20. The system of claim 13 , wherein the location data points include a location data point having wireless signal strength data.
21. The system of claim 13 , wherein the clusterer is further configured to organize location data points into clusters based on distances between one or more of the location data points.
22. The system of claim 21 , wherein the distances are based on a minimum measurement between a distance to a center of a cluster and to a closest location data point in the cluster.
23. The system of claim 22 , wherein the center of the cluster is a determined centroid of location data points within the cluster.
24. The system of claim 13 , wherein the location of the wireless access point is determined based on a cluster having an applied rank qualifier that indicates a highest rank.
25. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform a method for determining locations of wireless access points, the method comprising:
receiving a plurality of location data points from a plurality of mobile devices within signal range of a wireless access point, each location data point including data indicative of an estimated distance to the wireless access point;
organizing the plurality of location data points into at least two clusters;
organizing location data points within each of the organized clusters into one or more sessions based on a characteristic of the location data points;
applying a rank qualifier to each of the organized clusters based at least in part on the sessions into the which the location data points were organized within the cluster; and
determining the location of the wireless access point based on the organized and ranked clusters.