A Crowdsourced Mobile App Architecture for Plotting User Rated Free WiFi Hotspots

Free WiFi hotspots are gaining popularity in public spaces and private businesses alike. Governmental bodies are installing hotspots across frequently visited places to connect their citizens to information and other online services, while businesses are attracting and retaining customers with value-added free WiFi services on their premises. As more hotspots come into activity, keeping track of all the free WiFi locations can soon become a challenging task for a common user. To add to the dilemma, free hotspots services are often discontinued without prior notice. In this paper, the architecture and implementation of a crowdsourced mobile app system to keep track of active WiFi hotspots on a map is presented. The mechanism to allow users to add new hotspots to the map and provide a rating for the quality of a free hotspot is also described.