There is a specific method to locate your cell phones through a method known as triangulation method or also known as triangle measurement. What is the triangulation method? If you’ve watched a lot of CSI episodes, you probably have an idea what the method is about. It is basically the method of determining the location of cell phones by measuring the angles from identified known points or a fixed baseline. By referring to the speed of radio signals, the distance and location from the unknown point can be estimated by identifying three to four known points. The known points may be where the antennas are mounted for the cell phone operator. The first known point identifies the distance to the cell phone. The second known point then reduces the location to two points. The third known point is then used to identify the exact location of the cell phone. Basically, the concept is to reduce the exact location of the cell phone by removing the large area of a certain location to identify the location by using three filters or three known points. Two direction lines define a dotted area and the third line defines the exact location.
Basically, the fundamental principle of GPS is also to use triangulation to determine the best possible precision at a point in space. The triangulation method uses three coordinates or three GPS satellites from the user’s GPS receiver. From the measurement of this three-coordinate distance, the user’s location can be determined by determining the intersection between the three spheres of satellite coverage. The more GPS satellites you refer to, the more precise the position you can locate.
We will witness the development of more hardware and software to further help people in terms of connectivity and mobility that is based on this triangulation method. Social networks will benefit from this, since the flow of information will be channeled through this medium. An example of a social media platform that has taken advantage of this method is the Foursquare app. Created in 2009; The app serves as a location-based social media platform for mobile device users. Users can check in at their current location or hangouts and at the same time give reviews of the venue or product. Users can also use this application to connect with close friends. As technology for internet mobility becomes much more sophisticated, various location-based social media platforms are expected to develop as well. Some of the famous location-based services are the Foursquare, Loopt and Google Latitude apps that provide real-time location to friends who decided to share their location with close friends and family. At the same time, these applications also share the location information of your friends or family, such as the restaurants where they are having dinner or the place where they hang out.
However, the triangulation method has its weaknesses, such as obstacles that will prevent your GPS from detecting three satellites when you are inside a building, near a tall building and also in bad weather. This factor blocks the line of sight of your GPS and therefore could not find the three satellites it needed to pinpoint your location.