01 · Product name
WiGLE
A public map of wireless networks people have uploaded.
Published by WiGLE.
In short
WiGLE is a worldwide database of wireless networks, built from files volunteers upload. The site offers web search, an Android app, and an API, and you register for an account. Search fields include latitude, longitude, SSID, and BSSID. A pin is a network someone submitted. It does not prove who owns the router, and it is not a person’s location.
Product pricing strategy
02
Free
WiGLE is free. You do not buy a seat to use what the project publishes.
The FAQ and the map do not show a paid plan. You register for an account. Read the API page before you script it.
Utility and features
03
WiGLE’s FAQ says the project consolidates the location and details of wireless networks into one database, with a website and an Android application that can map, query, and update it. The search form exposes latitude and longitude, SSID, BSSID, and a date range. Uploads are part of the product. The FAQ lists the file formats the project accepts, from Kismet and NetStumbler through the project’s own Android client.
- A crowd-sourced radio map. Volunteers upload observations. The FAQ’s list of accepted formats is the intake. The map is the output.
- How you search. Latitude, longitude, SSID, BSSID, and a year range are on the search form. An account is required.
- API and Android client. api.wigle.net documents the API. The Android app’s code is the wiglenet repository.
The official Android client is the wiglenet repository, “Nethugging client for Android, from wigle.net.” The website remains the map. There is no price on the FAQ page this directory reviewed, so the listing stays free: you register and search. A BSSID on a map is where a radio was heard by an uploader. It is not a home address you can swear to, and it is not the advertising-identifier trails sold by Venntel or Fog Reveal.
- 1
Register, then search an SSID or a BSSID you are allowed to investigate.
- 2
Read the observation dates. Radios move, and uploads are not live GPS on a person.
- 3
Use the API if you need many queries. Read its page for the current rules.
- 4
Do not treat a cluster of networks as someone’s home without a second source.
Caveats
04
WiGLE is a free, crowd-sourced map of wireless networks people have observed. Coverage is wherever volunteers drove or walked. SSIDs collide. BSSIDs can be randomized or changed. A pin is an observation, not a person’s location.
Query limits exist so the database is not bulk-downloaded. This listing does not invent the current number. Do not use the map as a pattern-of-life tool, and do not upload captures you are not allowed to share. A network name in a cafe is not an identity.
Screenshots
05
Potential use cases
06
- You have a network name and you want to know where observers have reported it. Search WiGLE. The output is observations of that SSID or BSSID on the public map, with the uncertainty of crowd-sourced collection. An SSID is not unique. ‘Starbucks’ is not one network. Pivot a BSSID, which is the radio address, rather than the name, when you need a specific device. This page does not describe how to capture handshakes or to locate a person from a phone.
- A BSSID from a capture you are allowed to hold appears in your notes. Search that BSSID. If the map has it, the output is the observations other people submitted, which can be old. A network can move. A hit is not a current address and not a residence. Confirm how WiGLE wants observations submitted before you add any, and do not upload other people’s data.
- You need to explain the difference between a radio observation and a device-advertising trail. Use one SSID search and read the result as ‘this name was heard here,’ not ‘this person lives here.’ The pitfall is the map pin. It looks more precise than a wardriving sample is.
Hard cases
The case where the first result is easy to over-read.
The SSID pin is treated as a home
The map shows a home-router-looking name on a street. That can be a default name, a neighbor, or an old observation from a car. It is not a residence for the person in your case. If you have a BSSID from a lawful capture, search that, date the observation, and still do not call it a home. Location of a radio is not location of a person. This page will not turn it into one.
Questions
Is WiGLE free?
The FAQ and the map do not show a paid plan. You register for an account. Read the API page before you script it.
Does a WiGLE pin locate a person?
No. It locates a wireless network someone uploaded. People are not the record.
Citations
07
Titled sources. These public pages are what the quotes on this listing come from.
Product
WiGLE wireless map
https://wigle.net/Documentation
WiGLE FAQ
https://wigle.net/faqDocumentation
WiGLE API
https://api.wigle.net/