Location Services Process on Smartphone
Mobile location services are a simple thing that we typically take as granted. We usually share our location on social media, on messenger, with friends, or for taxi services to get to know how far that person is. How does our phone know about our location? Let's find out.
Some Facts About Smartphone Location Services
A smartphone usually takes 2 seconds to know the location. It has approximately up to three to five-meter precision technology. Not limited to this, computer or laptop locations can also be checked, even if they don't have a GPS receiver. Most times, our cell phone doesn't use GPS from satellite to know the location.
Method No. 1 Satellite GPS
Four satellite users continuously broadcast their location and time on the radio base. Mobile Phones detect from these signals the distance of these satellites from each other and get their location information. But there is a problem with satellite GPS. It is slow as it takes approximately 45 seconds to obtain location information because one reason is that when the first satellite data meets the phone, then the phone needs to receive the data that where will be on the same satellite in the next few hours. Usually, the satellite sends this data, but it takes some time. That is why a smartphone uses another method.
Method No. 2 Assisted GPS
The smartphone collects data from near Wi-Fi or telecommunication towers in this method. (the same data which needs smartphones for calculating the location in the satellite GPS method). So instead of using a satellite radio signal that takes some time, it uses "Assisted GPS" because it calculates faster than the satellite GPS method.
After the satellite gets signals, the phone checks that the Wi-Fi router or cellular network can provide the data, so it collects data for calculation. It can take away 45 seconds to 15 seconds or fewer. It's about data feeds that may have errors/mistakes; we use method number 3.
Method No. 3 Synthetic GPS
As we learned in assisted GPS, It collects data from Wi-Fi or telecom tower, which takes approximately 15 seconds. Still, if we input the same satellite data into a supercomputer, then the supercomputer can take that location in weeks which already can be stored in the smartphone. So the phone need not download that data. When the first satellite gets the signals, it can easily compare and verify the week's data with its memory. And then what? The phone gets to its location in only 2 seconds.
There are three methods to improve and locate your location quickly and some other methods that can help the phone know your location. For example:
Cell ID: A telecommunication company can identify your location through tower signal strengths. Other than this, your cell phone sensor, like a gyroscope, compass, etc., also can use to determine your location.
Your phone location calculation is so precise because of many elements running together, even in the area where satellite signals are weeks. GPS satellite has 10 to 15 feet accuracies so far, but soon new satellites will be used that will have the power to know the location more precisely. According to a study, they can have two feet accuracies.