NetView: A User-Centric Network Coverage Application

In accommodation of the expanding amount of WiFi-enabled products and services, the availability of Wi-Fi connectivity is rising. As available networks increase in quantity and overlapping coverage, a user's selection for connection becomes increasingly influential in the quality of their experience. In order for users to make effective decisions for their needs, they must be provided with information on these networks. In this work, we present NetView, a mobile application to acquire and present users with information based on their own usage context to make these informed decisions. Deployment of NetView in a university campus setting is used to demonstrate how user location and historical readings may be used with current network strength readings to shape policies for network selection.