Skyhook Wireless is a wireless technology company and their newest product, SpotRank, has the ability to do what they call "a real-time census". SpotRank is installed on a phone and then is used to collect anonymous location information about the user and then extrapolates that into a population estimate. SpotRank uses a mix of GPS, WiFi, and cellular signals to gain a location and will come bundled on all future Motorola, Android phones. There is no infomation on how accurate the system is for population estimates but as more phones run the program it will inevitable get more accurate.
Currently the data is being marketed for developers of mobile applications but planners could certainly benefit knowing real time and time lapse block level population data.
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