MarcoPolo: Automatic Location Switching

Have you ever gotten tired of manually changing your network settings whenever you move your laptop between locations? If so, MarcoPolo is for you.

While there are many other Mac apps that perform a similar task, MarcoPolo has the most features of all of them. The program uses fuzzy-logic to determine your location based on discoverable bluetooth devices, assigned IP addresses, attached USB devices, and visible WiFi devices. MarcoPolo can also perform other tasks on a location change such as changing your default printer, opening a file, application, or document, and setting the default SMTP server in Mail.app.

If the app can not figure out where you are, it uses a default profile. The program is very easy to setup and is very handy if you frequently take your laptop to a few different locations with different network settings. As you can see, the rules for bluetooth, IP addresses, USB, and WiFi networks are very easy to setup in the Preferences for the app. You even get the option to calibrate the fuzzy logic through the “Confidence” slider.

In addition, the Actions panel allows you to set certain other tasks to occur after your network changes. The program allows you to do things such as change your default printer or open a file, application, or document.

Overall, I am very impressed with MarcoPolo. As a college student, I am consistently changing locations with my laptop and many locations have different connection parameters. Using MarcoPolo saves me a lot of time changing settings, opening VPN clients, etc.

MarcoPolo is freeware and is available from David Symonds.