Contributing to beaconDB

by Thejesh GN · March 27, 2025

beaconDB is a public-domain wireless geolocation database. It replaces Mozilla Location Service, which, of course, was shut down in 2024. I used to contribute to MLS very regularly. I think I was on their contribution leader-board, too. Anyway, recently, I started contributing to it. Like I have written in WN 11/2025, I promised to contribute one Lakh unique beacons (wifi+cell+ble) to keep my competitive mind going.

beaconDB project page showing coverage across India and S.E Asia

beaconDB currently has a free API to access the resolved location (follows ichnaea's geolocate) if you send them the details of beacons around you with their power. Multiple beacons, with their location and power, are used to triangulate your location. Of course, their accuracy depends on the data and won't be as accurate as GPS. Yet, this could be useful when a real GPS can't be used. For example

Indoors
Places where GPS signals are weak or there is no direct line of sight
Devices that don't have GPSes like laptops or cheap controllers, etc

Contributing is easy. You can install one of the suggested apps and configure the app to upload the collected data to BeaconDB. I used NeoStumbler, which is an updated version of MozStumbler. When you are ready, click the start scanning button, walk around and once done, stop it and send the reports. Easy. To use the geolocation resolver, you can configure your laptop or microG/Andoid to use beaconDB instead of the default ones.

There are other fun ways to use this API, too. For example, in personal projects, you can use an ESP32 to log timestamps with nearby beacons and their signal strength while traveling. Once back home, query a beacon database using this data to estimate GPS locations. You can do this on a laptop, too.