Am Fri, 30 Mar 2018 23:24:02 -0600, schrieb rbowman:

Short answer is the secured access points are broadcasting a SSID.

Thank you for trying to answer the question as an adult.

Yes, it's clear to all of us that every access point is broadcasting a
unique BSSID, whether it's secured or wide open, is broadcasting the BSSID
(which, for this thread, we can call an SSID even though, technically,
they're different in that the BSSID is supposed to be unique while the SSID
often is not unique).

And we all know that google *online* servers have this information, along
with the signal strength (as explained prior) and location of the phones
that reported the access point BSSID to Google.

Assuming you have a WiFi connection to any of them, the database can be
queried and the location of each SSID determined.

Ah. Do you see what you just said. Where is the WiFi connection when you're
just driving down the road.

That's the fundamental dilemma with any answer that requires a connection
to the Internet on a tablet that has no cellular data functionality.

You see the dilemma since you mention a connection to the Internet, which
isn't going to be possible in most cases of driving on the road.

So how does it work, if it doesn't connect to open unsecured wifi access
points?

Just walking down a city street you should be able to see a number of
access points even if you can't connect to them. That information is all
you need.

Yes. If you connect. But once you connect then nobody disputes that a
connection to the Internet will identify the location (by a variety of
means).

The problem here is there is no cellular data possible, and you're driving
along the road so you're not likely to be connecting to access points that
you don't even know - but certainly you can 'see' them.

So the question here is whether Google *stores* that BSSID location data
inside the offline map database that you download with Google Maps.

afaik, you still need a connection to Google.

But it seems to work WITHOUT a connection to google!

That's the technical dilemma and the reason for the question!

Many of the services like
routing are not done locally. The device sends the request off to a
server, not necessarily Google, and gets back JSON (usually) data which
it then can use to plot a line on the basemap.

Remember, we're talking about a tablet that has no cellular capability and
no GPS capability and we're driving on the road so we don't know anyone's
SSID or passphrase, and yet, Google Maps _still_ knows where you are.

How?