How to hide your Wifi from Google's location database

This one's a tad off the beaten Android path but is something you should know about. You might well have heard that Google, in an effort to speed up a number of things involving location, has built a database of Wifi access points. The idea, of course, is that if your phone is in range of one or more APs, it'll have a pretty good idea of where you are, thus speeding location services.

The flip side is that it's not just public access points that have been cataloged. Your home Wifi might well be recognized, too (and Google's gotten in a little bit of hot water for accidentally collecting more data than it should have).

But you can now opt out of having your Wifi included in Google's database. To do so is simple enough. Just change your SSID (that's the name of your hotspot) and add _nomap to the end of it. (See our example above.) Takes about 30 seconds to do, though you'll have to reconnect your phones and what not.

Google's hoping that other location providers will also start to use the _nomap string, and it's got some helpful instructions, should you need a hand with your router.

Source: Google