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Apr 3, 2014 8:00:00 AM

Enable Location with Skyhook on Raspberry Pi

Posted by Skyhook

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Raspberry Pi is a low cost, credit-card sized computer that plugs into a computer monitor or TV, and has been used in a wide array of “Internet of Things” projects. It uses a standard keyboard and mouse, and is capable of doing everything a desktop computer can do.

Understanding this device and it’s capabilities, we put together a recipe with Skyhook’s location technology that can run on small, cheap, off-the-shelf hardware - specifically the Raspberry Pi Model B. Now you can use Skyhook in your own Raspberry Pi-based project - and our location works even for devices that are not connected to the Internet continuously. To demonstrate, we put together a location tutorial for Raspnerry Pi.

Skyhook has outlined a step-by-step tutorial demonstrating how to use Skyhook’s Precision Location on a Raspberry Pi device running Raspbian Linux. This project also illustrates how Skyhook location can be used in a small device that uses Linux and an ARM processor. The configuration is similar to what many embedded systems use today, including custom mobile devices, machine controllers and wearables. The project also ultimately depicts the many ways you can add location to Raspberry Pi and how easy the process is. 

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With this tutorial, learn how to:

  1. Configure your Raspberry Pi device with Wi-Fi

  2. Install the Skyhook Precision Location SDK on your Raspberry Pi

  3. Enable location on the device while connected to the Internet and while disconnected using Skyhook Offline Location

  4. Look up offline location

  5. Build a map of your trip in KML. KML is an XML file format that specifies a set of features (placemarks, images, polygons, 3D models, textual descriptions, etc.) for display in geospatial software.

The device turns on and off with a power source such as a car and connects to the internet only when in-range of a known, pre-configured Wi-Fi network. The device will also continuously record its location whether connected to the Internet or not. It will also dynamically detect when it is connected to the Internet so it can reconcile previous locations and build a trip map KML file for each trip the car takes.

To see the full step-by-step walkthrough as well as the full code samples, access the full tutorial below.raspberry_pi