Under FCC rules for emergencies (e911) GPS data, is sent only during an emergency 911 call. Handsets could possibly have GPS and also the device may “know” preciselyits position, nevertheless it really cannot “tell” anyone else where it is, unless connected to a cellular network. To adhere to Federal Communications Commission guidelines, cellular phone companies have to be able to give authorities with handset latitude and longitude to an accuracy of 50 to 300 meters. Cell Tower Triangulation isn’t going to always satisfy this condition. For evaluation, commercially accessible GPS modules will be able to achieve precision right down to less than 10 meters. This depends upon many factors, as GPS signals tend to be rather weak and they are impacted by many variables. With Mobile Location Services (MLS), the GSM cell network provider uses triangulation algorithms to try to pinpoint the location of the device, its accuracy is proven to be less than than that of GPS. MLS is also affected by the same issues as GPS in the sense of the barriers affecting signal strength and the density of GSM towers to assist in the triangulation calculation. In remote areas location accuracy may be off as much as a mile. GPS receivers, whether or not inside of a phone, or a dedicated Portable gps tracking device, determine location through process of accurately timing the signals transmitted by GPS satellites. This information provides the time the message was transmitted, precise orbital data (technically referred to as the ephemeris), as well as the overall system state and calculated orbits of all GPS satellites (formally referenced as the almanac). GPS receivers sometimes take longer to become ready to use after being turned on because it must acquire some basic information in addition to capturing GPS satellite signals. This slow start can be caused if the GPS smartphone has been turned off for days or weeks, or has been moved a significant distance while unused. The GPS must update its almanac and ephemeris data and store it in memory. The GPS almanac is a set of data that every GPS satellite transmits. When a GPS receiver has current almanac data in memory, it can acquire signals and find initial position more quickly.
To help trace a cell phone involves numerous main ways of calculating cell phone position. GPS (Global Positioning System/Satellites), Triangulation, and CellID. These technologies transform mobile phones into mobile tracking devices. These kinds of systems can be considered Network Based, Handset Based or possibly a Hybrid approach. GPS position is Handset based mainly because it demands software installed on the cell phone together with GPS hardware. Triangulation and CellID are Network Based because they use the equipment and information from the wireless provider. Hybrid systems integrate methods to produce best use of available data and also to help make perform faster.