Conceptual questions about GPS, WiFi, cellular connection and location services

[brannsiu]

We know that GPS uses satellite and WiFi uses nearby crowded-sourced WiFi hotspots to determine the location of your devices.

How does cellular connection, provided by data SIM, find out the location of your devices? How precise is the location determined by cellular connection alone?

Suppose I disable the location services of my mobile device in the Android or iOS setting, GPS and WiFi should not work, however, I am on the mobile network with the data SIM card, could it also determine my location and tell the apps?

Normally, if I disable location service, does it mean the apps will not be able to find out where I am ?

I don't want to reflect my location to some particular apps

 

[USAFRet]

GPS in the phone is receive only. It gets data from the satellites, and displays on the screen where you are. The data may also tell 'apps' where the phone is. It does NOT tell the satellite(s).

Cell connection is different. The phone talks to multiple towers, and triangulates where the phone is by signal strength.

WiFi does the same, in possibly seeing multiple nearby WiFi sources and triangulating.


Now....the best solution for preventing your phone locating where you are is to turn the phone off, and take the battery out.

 

[brannsiu]

does the triangulation done by WiFi or cell connection determine a location that is very precise, not very precise, or very not precise?

 

[boosted1g]

WiFi could be done by a triangulation or could be done by say knowing that IP address is registered to this customer on time warner with address of XYZ, thus you know the location fairly well. The latter is more of a after-the-fact, while the first is real-time.

Cellular is very limited and can have a radius greater then 1mile.

 

[USAFRet]

does the triangulation done by WiFi or cell connection determine a location that is very precise, not very precise, or very not precise?

It depends. Also, depends on what you determine to be "precise"
1 meter, 100 meters, 1 mile?

If there is only one local tower that your phone is talking to, "very much not precise". As in "somewhere near this cell tower".
In a city with lots of tall buildings? "Not very precise".
Somewhere with few tall buildings and several cell towers and maybe WiFi sources? A few meters, maybe.

Lots of other variables.
For instance, at my old house...google maps had my house consistently 100 yards off. "Hey, pizza guy! Turn around...I see you!"

 

[Eximo]

does the triangulation done by WiFi or cell connection determine a location that is very precise, not very precise, or very not precise?

For instance, at my old house...google maps had my house consistently 100 yards off. "Hey, pizza guy! Turn around...I see you!"

Ugh, don't remind me. For the longest time google maps had my house on the wrong side of a major road. So they were always looking at the completely wrong block of houses. You would think the lower house numbers would have given it away...

 

[jsmithepa]

Why, are you afraid of drones?

 

[brannsiu]

Sounds like of possibilities and uncertainties. Down to an easier question... if I disable the location services in the privacy setting, is it usual or unusual that a particular app developed by third parties (not Google) could collect my location details for their uses? (No matter I am on WiFi, cellular connection?)

Is it 99% of the time good enough to stop any apps from collecting anything about my location and use it for their own?

Worry about drones? I am not worried about Google or Police. I just have a kind of OCD to hate a downloaded apps, not developed by Google or any well-reputed sources, to collect anything about my location through the use of their apps.