为什么Android的定位数据对谷歌来说这么重要？
来源：http://article.yeeyan.org/view/208966/191682
为什么Android的定位数据对谷歌来说这么重要？
Why Android Location Data Is So Important to Google
为什么Android的定位数据对谷歌来说这么重要？
By Ryan Kim May. 2, 2011, 8:20am PT
瑞安·金 2011年5月2日 太平洋时间上午8:20
While the focus on handset location data has been focused largely on Apple recently , new internal Google memos that emerged yesterday illustrate why the search company is also very serious about collecting Wi-Fi data through its Android handsets. The memos help explain why location data is so important and why, in particular, Google has relied on data from handsets.
近来对手机定位数据的关注大多集中在苹果上，而昨天出现的一份谷歌内部备忘录展示了为什么这家搜索公司对通过Android手机收集无线数据也非常重视。这份备忘录解释了为什么定位数据是如此重要，尤其是谷歌为什么如此依赖于手机收集的数据。
In a memo exchange last year, not long after Motorola chose to use Skyhook Wireless location technology in its handsets over Google’s, Google founder and current CEO, Larry Page, sent a short message to the Android team asking for a response. Android team members responded by saying that location data obtained through handsets was “extremely valuable” to Google, especially after it chose to forgo obtaining Wi-Fi location data from its Google Maps Streetview vehicles.
去年在摩托罗拉为其手机选择了Skyhook而不是谷歌的无线定位技术后不久，谷歌的创始人和现任CEO，拉里·佩奇，在一份备忘录中向Android团队发了一则讯息询问他们对此的反应。Android团队的成员回复到，手机所收集的定位数据对谷歌“极其有价值”，尤其是在其选择放弃通过谷歌地图街景车来获得无线定位数据以后。
“I cannot stress enough how important Google’s wifi [sic] location database is to our Android and mobile product strategy,” Google Location Service Product Manager Steve Lee wrote in the memos, which were obtained by the San Jose Mercury News. ”We absolutely do care about this (decision by Motorola) because we need wifi [sic] data collection in order to maintain and improve our wifi location service.”
“谷歌的定位数据库对我们的Android及移动产品策略非常重要，我再怎么强调都不为过。”谷歌的定位服务产品经理史蒂夫·李在这份备忘录中写到，后者由圣荷西水星报获得。“我们绝对在乎（摩托罗拉的）这个决定因为我们需要无线数据的收集来维护并改进我们的无线定位服务。”
The exchange helps frame both the battle over location and the litigation between Google and Skyhook, which is suing Google for interfering with its Motorola relationship by later pressuring the manufacturer to drop Skyhook, which it did. Had Google still had the use of its Streetview cars for gathering Wi-Fi data, it might have been less reliant on getting data through its handsets. But after it was discovered the vehicles were gathering personal information through unsecured Wi-Fi networks, Google vowed to give up using the cars for Wi-Fi data collection. The cars had been in use since 2007, helping Google gather the location of 300 million Wi-Fi hotspots, which help pinpoint a user’s location to within about 100 feet, according to the Mercury News.
这些交流不仅描绘出了谷歌与Skyhook之间在定位技术上的战争，还有他们之间的官司；Skyhook控告谷歌通过对摩托罗拉施压要求其放弃Skyhook来干扰其与摩托罗拉之间的关系，而摩托罗拉也确实放弃了Skyhook。如果谷歌还能用街景车来收集无线数据，也许它对通过手机来收集数据就没那么依赖。但是在街景车被发现通过未加密的无线网络收集个人信息以后，谷歌就承诺放弃使用这些车来收集无线数据。这些车自2007年投入使用，帮助谷歌收集了3亿无线接入点的方位，而这，根据水星报，能将一个用户的位置精确定位到100英尺内。
Android phones are also able to help build a database of locations through mapping Wi-Fi hotspots, but it requires handsets to run Google’s opt-in location sharing service. However, if major handset makers such as Motorola chose to pay for Skyhook’s location technology over Google’s own free software, the search company ran the risk of having an imperfect picture of Wi-Fi locations. That’s the thing with location data based on Wi-Fi routers: It’s always changing, so Google and others need a reliable way to keep updating the information.
Android手机同样能通过绘制无线接入点的地图来构建一个方位数据库，但它要求手机用户自愿运行谷歌的方位共享服务。然而，如果一个像摩托罗拉这样的主要手机厂商选择使用Skyhook收费的定位技术而不是谷歌自己的免费软件，这个搜索公司则面临运行在不完善的无线定位数据上的风险。这就是基于无线路由器的定位数据的关键，它总是在变，所以谷歌和其他公司需要一个保持更新信息的可信的方法。
Ted Morgan, CEO of Skyhook, said the memos help explain the relation between the Google Streetview car situation, the competition with Skyhook and phone tracking. He said with the deals Skyhook was closing to signing with manufacturers, it would have locked up 7o to 80 percent of the Android device market.
泰德·摩根，Skyhook的CEO，说这份备忘录揭示了谷歌街景车情况，与Skyhook之间的竞争和手机跟踪之间的关系。他说Skyhook与厂商之间本来要签署的协议，将锁定Android市场的70%到80%。
“Location is one of the key chess pieces in the mobile platform battle that will rage for the next few years and clearly Apple and Google get it. [The memos] also show why these companies have taken such an aggressive posture towards us, we invented most of the key technologies behind it all and our property is standing in the way,” Morgan said.
“定位是接下来几年移动平台战役中关键的一颗棋子，很明显苹果和谷歌都清楚。［这份备忘录］也显示了为什么这些公司对我们采取了如此咄咄逼人的姿态，我们发明了背后大多数的关键技术而我们的资产挡了他们的路。”
Now, Morgan has a big stake in this game. But he’s right in that location is a serious battleground, and whoever has the best handle on it, both gathering it and using it, is best positioned to reap a lot of money as we build a lot of services based on location. Mobile ad serving based on location is increasingly growing into a big opportunity because they put relevant ads in front of people based on where people are. Companies like WHERE, which was recently bought by eBay , are basing their whole mobile ad business around delivering location-based ads.
现在摩根在这场游戏中下了很大的赌注。但他是对的，定位的确是一个重要的战场，无论是谁只要在收集和使用方面占了先机，就占据了收获大量回报的最佳位置，因为有很多服务都是基于定位的。基于定位的移动广告服务正逐渐成长为一个极大的机会因为他们根据人们的位置把相关的广告放在他们面前。像最近被eBay收购的Where这样的公司，他们就把他们所有的移动广告服务建立在基于定位传递广告之上。
With location such a pivotal tool, it’s possible Google leaned on Motorola and another manufacturer to choose its location technology as Skyhook has alleged. We’ll have to wait for a jury to decide that. But as the memos suggest, good location data is important for Android handsets and Android handsets are key in improving Google’s location data. Indeed, for Google, the location data on its handsets is no doubt, “extremely valuable.”
在定位这样一个关键工具上，确有可能如Skyhook所宣称的那样，谷歌依赖于摩托罗拉及其他手机厂商选择它们的定位技术。是否如此我们得等法官来判决。但如这份备忘录所提到的，好的定位数据对Android手机很重要，而Android手机对改进谷歌的定位数据很关键。的确，对谷歌来说，其手机上面的定位数据是毫无疑问，“极其有价值”的。