Do cell phones use GPS for location?

GPS Tracking in Cell Phones Today, most cell phones come with their own GPS tracking system. While the standard GPS that comes in an iPhone or Android phone may not be sensitive enough to give an exact address where the phone is located, it can narrow the location to within a small area.

How is the location of a smartphone determined using satellites and the GPS system?

The receiver then uses trilateration to determine your exact location. Basically, it draws a sphere around each of three satellites it can locate. These three spheres intersect in two points — one is in space, and one is on the ground. The point on the ground at which the three spheres intersect is your location.

How accurate is cell phone GPS location?

For example, GPS-enabled smartphones are typically accurate to within a 4.9 m (16 ft.) radius under open sky (view source at ION.org). However, their accuracy worsens near buildings, bridges, and trees. High-end users boost GPS accuracy with dual-frequency receivers and/or augmentation systems.

How does phone location work?

The location of a mobile phone can be determined using client software installed on the handset. This technique determines the location of the handset by putting its location by cell identification, signal strengths of the home and neighboring cells, which is continuously sent to the carrier.

Does the iPhone use GPS satellites?

The iPhone really uses an Assisted GPS (AGPS) chip. The reason lies in how Global Positioning System (GPS) technology works. In order for an iPhone GPS receiver to get an accurate location, it has to query at least four of the 27 satellites that make up the Global Positioning System constellation.

Does cell phone GPS work without service?

Can I Use GPS Without an Internet Connection? Yes. On both iOS and Android phones, any mapping app has the ability to track your location without needing an internet connection. A-GPS doesn’t work without data service, but the GPS radio can still get a fix directly from the satellites if it needs to.

How accurate is differential GPS?

A Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) is an enhancement to the Global Positioning System (GPS) which provides improved location accuracy, in the range of operations of each system, from the 15-metre (49 ft) nominal GPS accuracy to about 1–3 centimetres (0.39–1.18 in) in case of the best implementations.