
Without GPS, how does Google and Android know where I am - asmosoinio
http://blog.geckosmsapp.com/how-does-google-and-android-know-where-i-am-w-35219
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asmosoinio
Blog post author here, submitting my own post. It's basically a long-winded a
reply to this HN comment <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2640953> and a
few other similar comments on other forums and IRL. The post did get some
discussion going on in
[http://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/ib6pq/without_gps_h...](http://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/ib6pq/without_gps_how_does_google_and_android_know/)

(Edit: typo)

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alphakappa
Long story short - it's by identifying the cell towers and WiFi networks near
you.

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asmosoinio
Thanks for you comment alphakappa! How did you find the post, did you get any
new information from it?

Indeed, it is dead simple. Once you have locations for the towers and WiFi
networks, that is. Getting a good database of those is the hardest part.

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greyfade
This page is unviewable in Chrome. All I get on my screen is corrupt garbage,
like what you'd see on an old Atari when it crashes.

~~~
asmosoinio
Thanks for the info! Could you give some more information about your setup
(Chrome version, OS)?

You can contact me at [my HN username]@geckolandmarks.com if you don't want to
comment here.

I am using the default Posterous theme with only a minor addition to have a
custom favicon. Can you see other posterous blogs properly with that browser,
for example <http://ycombinator.posterous.com/> ?

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vitung
With a good database of landmarks around to reference with your position will
be a lot better when it comes to locations

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churvachenes
without gps, you can get your location via closest cell id and google maps
used that cell id to point your location with landmark name. Am i right? TIA

