Slashgeo

Slashdot is currently discussing an article on Citysense, which is used to track users actions by their cell phones. Here is their summary : "A Columbia University computer science professor has co-founded a New York-based company named Sense Networks to sell tracking software to other companies. It is also distributing a free version of this software, named Citysense, which shows on your cell phone where the wild things are happening in your own town. Citysense 'uses advanced machine learning techniques to number crunch vast amounts of data emanating from thousands of cell-phones, GPS-equipped cabs and other data devices to paint live pictures of where people are gathering.' Citysense is available today in San Francisco, before being soon deployed in Chicago and five other U.S. cities."

GPS Business News reports on an upgrade to SkyHook Wireless' mobile positioning engine, XPS 2.0. "The original XPS was switching between Wi-Fi and GPS; now XPS 2.0 combines raw Wi-Fi, GPS and cell tower readings to produce a single hybrid calculation. In difficult indoor and urban environments, XPS can, for example, leverage signals from just two GPS satellites to improve Wi-Fi location accuracy by 35%+, said Skyhook.
...
The addition of cell tower positioning also increases availability so that users at least get a fallback location regardless of environment."

SkyHook also seems to be licensing its technology to chipset manufacturers, as reported here "CSR offers a Wi-Fi chipset and a Bluetooth/FM/software GPS chipset as well as its own eGPS software that reads cell tower signal to augment the GPS positioning."

Indoors or out, I can determine my position and not miss a beat (but might miss a little accuracy...)