subject: Types of Systemsedit [print this page] LBS or location based services, or mobile positioning, helps closely determine the position of a cellular device. This is an incredible technology used to locate and identify the location of a mobile device, and unintentionally, or intentionally in some cases, the phone's user are approximately located. Just about all cell phone providers offer some type of service that will allow you to track and position your cell phone if it is lost, stolen, or you want to track rambunctious teenagers.
The way these tracking systems works is, they use the same technology that the phone uses to acquire service. A cell phone acquires the signal it needs to make calls by connecting to a signal that is transmitted by a tower. When a cell phone connects to a tower it "pings", or registers itself with the tower. When this happens the phone leaves a footprint on the tower, and the footprint or data, is recorded. Authorities and other interested parties can then look up the tower's records and determine when the phone was registered there, thus determining the holder's location at that time.
Areas that may be more spread out or less populated will have fewer towers, while more urban areas will have more. The further apart towers are, like in rural areas, the harder it is to pinpoint an exact location. Urban areas have towers that are closer together, so they have more a precise way of identifying location. Depending on the zone that the phone is in you can get within 50 meters or a few miles of accuracy. Even if you can only locate within a few miles that is still relatively close. Think about it this way, if you teenager said they were at the mall which is 1 mile away and their signal is in the next town, they will have some explaining to do.
