How does Google know that this exact tiny restaurant on the 4th floor of a building full of other restaurants and cafes is “usually busy at 8pm on Wednesday”?
In: 70
Lots of guessing based in phones data. It’ll be wrong for many, but on average it’ll work out.
Basic location is simply gps.
Altitude is the tricky part. GPS didn’t do that well.
Your phone can estimate altitude from it’s barometer. By measuring the change in air pressure the office can detect elevation changes within a few feet.
And another eat to pinpoint your location is if your phone contacts a wifi network with a known location.
Or if you use your phone to pay at a point of sale that also registers a location.
The amount of precision the tech companies can have about your exact motion is pretty wild. Your phone serves pretty good as a training device, like ankle monitors we choose to carry around.
It’s one reason I’m always urge policy makers to create limits on this information and it’s use.
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