got an iPhone 3G? now you can paid to be a war driver (find access points + cell towers) w/Navizon

(Hope this doesn't violate the forum rules...)
If you've got an iPhone 3G, you can earn a little money by being a war driver w/your iPhone 3G. I stumbled across Navizon recently while looking for something else.

You can paid $10 for every 10,000 points but if you're using Navizon Lite, you can only get paid for one reward unless you upgrade to the full version. See Navizon rewards - Earn money with Navizon running with a GPS device for how it works.

If you do sign up, when creating an account, I'd appreciate it if you use my referral link: http://my.navizon.com/Webapps/UserAdmin/register.aspx?referral_code=5859595F5856 or simply my referral code 5859595F5856. The Navizon apps are in the iTunes app store.

It does drain a fair amount of power so I wouldn't use it for long periods of time unless you have something to power your iPhone 3G in the car.

It would be perfect for you if you drive all day on different routes every day (e.g. taxi drivers, delivery people), esp. if you go through densely populated areas.

 

Re: got an iPhone 3G? now you can paid to be a war driver (find access points + cell towers) w/Navi

Update: Navizon seems to be legit and they definitely do pay. I've only been using it since around the time of my original post and I've gotten my first $10, used my next reward on an upgrade to the premium version so that I can earn additional rewards.

I'm at 28K points now but should be at over 30K (for another $10) by the end of the month because I'm going on vacation to a different geographic area.

It's definitely nowhere near enough $ to make a living on but it's nice to know one can make a little $ while driving around.

 

can earn points on other platforms and also by taking advantage of Apple's cache/tracking file

Unfortunately, the app was pulled long ago from the the iOS App Store but still works on iOS 4.x.x (but not in the background, since it requires extra work) and Apple didn't send down a kill bit. Also, unfortunately, the newly re-released iPhone app cannot gather any data for points. The reason is given at Navizon • View topic - iOS 4 app is coming.

However, other platforms (e.g. Blackberry, Symbian and Android) apparently can still war drive. See Navizon. 10,000 points gets you $15 now per http://www.navizon.com/navizon_rewards.asp. I'm at 124604 points, but their payout used to be lower.

I also got a note today in my rewards page:

Apparently, they want to take advantage of the cache in the iPhone backup to expand their DB. If you're willing to upload your cache... err.. psuedo-tracking file... to them for points, they have a tool at Navizon • View topic - Visualize and upload the location data stored on your iPhone. (Current version doesn't work for me.) The above tool will likely no longer work if you've updated to iOS 4.3.3.

If you decide to war drive or take advantage of the above tool, I'd really appreciate it if you use my referral link to sign up for an account.

 

Re: got an iPhone 3G? now you can paid to be a war driver (find access points + cell towers) w/Navi

[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wardriving"]Wardriving - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]


In this particular case, it's to help to build up Navizon's database. Navizon is mentioned at Wardriving - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. For that, you're rewarded points for which you can receive money. See Navizon rewards - Earn money with Navizon running with a GPS device. So, yes, it is for fun and profit.

 

Re: got an iPhone 3G? now you can paid to be a war driver (find access points + cell towers) w/Navi

Not true. Per Navizon rewards - Earn money with Navizon running with a GPS device, you can earn:

I have:

	Column 1	Column 2	Column 3
0	.	# mapped	Points
1	Wifi discovered by you	21792	65376
2	Cell towers discovered by you	1174	17610
3	Wifi already mapped	35171	35171
4	Cell towers already mapped	2557	5114
5	Wifi already mapped not qualifying	896

 

Re: got an iPhone 3G? now you can paid to be a war driver (find access points + cell towers) w/Navi

It can take a long time. You definitely can't make a living off of it.

However, if you were a taxi or delivery driver that took different routes all the time, I suspect you could rack up a lot. Also, if you have many people who use your referral link to sign up (esp. if they are the one of the above), that's extra points for doing nothing.

If you're going somewhere anyway, may as well do it, as long as you have something power your device. When I went to Canada and used my Android phone (that I don't have anymore), the Android app is able to queue up the data in local storage to save for uploading later. I had data roaming turned off (since I didn't want international roaming charges to kill me), and went to Vancouver BC and all around. I think I earned a few thousand points.

The Android version was very buggy and I had a few scares that I'd lost all my collected data, but fortunately, that wasn't the case.

 

Re: can earn points on other platforms and also by taking advantage of Apple's cache/tracking file :

Regarding the bolded part, well, they didn't fix the tool but I found a workaround. If you have an iPhone that hasn't been updated to 4.3.3 and you hit the problem that I ran into at Navizon • View topic - Visualize and upload the location data stored on your iPhone, try uninstalling their app and reinstalling it on your boot drive. I ended up stumbling across that workaround.

I uploaded my cache but they're weeks behind on reward calculations so it might be awhile before I see how many points it got me.

Again, if you sign up, it'd be really appreciated if you use my referral link.

 

Re: can earn points on other platforms and also by taking advantage of Apple's cache/tracking file :

Navizon's reward calculations have finally caught up. I got about 6000 points for my iPhone 4 cache... err... tracking file upload. It was enough to take me to the next 10K points, I just received $15 (actually $14.71 after Paypal fees).

It is war driving for fun and profit...

Though it's not limited to these folks, those who are taxi drivers (GrumpyCabbie?), mappers, or delivery folks should be able to rack up a ton of points. All you need now is a a supported smartphone (iPhone 3G and above aren't able to do it anymore w/the current client ), an unlimited (or high cap) data plan and a car charger if you plan to war drive for a long time.