Mapping a Wi-Fi Network?

NivekEnterprises asks: "At my school where I am an Electrical Engineering major A Wi-Fi network has been set up, and is running in several buildings. Since the coverage extends outside several of my friends and I are trying to map the signal strength. Basically we are going to take a map of campus and walk around with a Wi-Fi enabled laptop, marking as best we can. Is there an easier way to do this? Has anyone else done something similar and is willing to share some their insights?"

Well...

[iantri]

Belkin (I believe) makes a Wi-Fi hotspot detector.. coupled with a GPS receiver and GIS software I think you could do a pretty good job of it..

Kismet

[pardey]

If you use Linux on your laptop, kismet [kismetwireless.net] will interface with GPS devices, and do signal power interpolation to find signal sources. It will also mark everything on a user-supplied map. Good Luck.

gpsd + kismet on linux

[crstophr]

www.kismetwireless.com search sourceforge for gpsd. Hook your GPS to your linux machine and get gpsd running. Configure kismet (sniffer) to use gpsd. Kismet will record the gps location, SSID, and strength in a log file. There is even another tool included to automatically generate maps for you. --Chris

Re:Well...

[eyempack]

yeah a site exists where people do similar things like this for fun... it should help with some info on equipment and FAQ's . http://www.netstumbler.com [netstumbler.com]

Re:Kismet

[Dr.Dubious DDQ]

I'll also add a plug for GPSDrive [kraftvoll.at], which can run alongside Kismet and display your position "live" on a variety of different maps...

It also displays the position of the AP's as estimated by the running copy of Kismet.