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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-05-26T02:53:18+00:00

I am researching how to create an app for my work that allows clients

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I am researching how to create an app for my work that allows clients to download the app (preferably via the app store) and using some sort of wifi triangulation/fingerprints be able to determine their location for essentially an interactive tour.

Now, my question specifically is what is the best route to take for the iPhone? None of the clients will be expected to have jail broken iPhones.

To my understanding this requires the use of the wifi data which is a private api therefore not meeting the app store requirements. The biggest question I have is how does American Museum of Natural History get away with using the same technology, but still available on the app store?

if you’re unfamiliar with American Museum of Natural History interactive tour app, see here:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/amnh-explorer/id381227123?mt=8

Thank you for any clarification you can provide.

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    I’m one of the developers of the AMNH Explorer app you’re referencing.

    Explorer uses the Cisco “Mobility Services Engine” (MSE) behind the scenes to determine its location. This is part of their Cisco wifi installation. The network itself listens for devices in the museum and estimates their position via Wifi triangulation. We do a bit of work in the app to “ask” the MSE for our current location.

    Doing this work on the network side was (and still is) the only available option for iOS since, as you’ve found, the wifi scanning functions are considered to be private APIs.

    If you’d like to build your own system and mobile app for doing something similar, you might start with the MSE.

    Alternatively, we’ve built the same tech from Explorer into a new platform called Meridian which provides location-based services on both iOS and Android. Definitely get in touch with us via the website if you’re interested in building on that.

    Update 6/1/2017

    Thought I would update this old answer – AMNH is no longer using the Wifi-based system I describe above, as of a few years ago. They now use an installation of a few hundred battery-powered Bluetooth Beacons (also provided by Meridian). The device (iOS or Android) scans for nearby beacons and, based on their known locations and RSSI values, triangulates a position. You can read more about it in this article.

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