GSM localization uses multilateration to determine the location of GSM mobile phones, or dedicated trackers, usually with the intent to locate the user. Rural and desolate areas may see miles between base stations and therefore determine locations less precisely. Qualified services may achieve a precision of down to 50 meters in urban areas where mobile traffic and density of antenna towers (base stations) is sufficiently high. Further approximation can be done by interpolating signals between adjacent antenna towers.

The technology of locating is based on measuring power levels and antenna patterns and uses the concept that a powered mobile phone always communicates wirelessly with one of the closest base stations, so knowledge of the location of the base station implies the cell phone is nearby.Īdvanced systems determine the sector in which the mobile phone is located and roughly estimate also the distance to the base station. (See US 5519760, issued for one of the first works relating to this. Network-based techniques were developed many years prior to the widespread availability of GPS on handsets. The advantage of network-based techniques, from a service provider's point of view, is that they can be implemented non-intrusively without affecting handsets. The location of a mobile phone can be determined using the service provider's network infrastructure.

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