Can someone find where your cell phone is, based on it's ip address?

[Otter]

Depending on who "someone" is makes a big difference. If it's your cell phone provider or these days they guys who control the communcations of your cell phone network (think outsources providers like TING) then they will be able to track you down to within a about a hundred yards of your location in a metropolitian area through triangulation of cell phone towers.

This technology was abailable long before cell phones by the way.

If it's someone like a mod on CP that can only see your IP address then no, they're lucky if they can track your location down to a 50 or 100 mile raidus of your true location. As far as your apps and location finder they do user more sophisticated methods than a simple IP lookup so yes they'll be able to pinpoint about the same as your cell phone provider.

I'm not quiet the hard core techie I once was but I'm pretty sure this is still the rule of thumb.

[BWillie]

Originally Posted by Otter

Depending on who "someone" is makes a big difference. If it's your cell phone provider or these days they guys who control the communcations of your cell phone network (think outsources providers like TING) then they will be able to track you down to within a about a hundred yards of your location in a metropolitian area through triangulation of cell phone towers.

This technology was abailable long before cell phones by the way.

If it's someone like a mod on CP that can only see your IP address then no, they're lucky if they can track your location down to a 50 or 100 mile raidus of your true location. As far as your apps and location finder they do user more sophisticated methods than a simple IP lookup so yes they'll be able to pinpoint about the same as your cell phone provider.

I'm not quiet the hard core techie I once was but I'm pretty sure this is still the rule of thumb.

Yeah I don't care if my ISP or cell phone provider knows where I am, don't to the exact latitude & long Just whoever is the owner of a website or a piece of software that I am using.

I'm still fuzzy on how the apps give out where I am, is there a way to check that or to ensure that doesn't happen?

[Otter]

Originally Posted by BWillie

Yeah I don't care if my ISP or cell phone provider knows where I am, don't to the exact latitude & long Just whoever is the owner of a website or a piece of software that I am using.

I'm still fuzzy on how the apps give out where I am, is there a way to check that or to ensure that doesn't happen?

Nothing is as simple as on or off but here's a starter for reading. Because knowing is half the battle.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Location-based_service

Oh, and "triangulation" is probably an outdated term today. It's probably more like hepta-angulation in metro areas these days.

[AustinChief]

Originally Posted by Otter

Depending on who "someone" is makes a big difference. If it's your cell phone provider or these days they guys who control the communications of your cell phone network (think outsources providers like TING) then they will be able to track you down to within a about a hundred yards of your location in a metropolitan area through triangulation of cell phone towers.

It's much more accurate than that even now. Cell phone triangulation can get you to with a few feet if there is enough tower density. You'd only be 100s of feet off if you were out in a rural area.

Originally Posted by Otter

This technology was available long before cell phones by the way.

If it's someone like a mod on CP that can only see your IP address then no, they're lucky if they can track your location down to a 50 or 100 mile radius of your true location. As far as your apps and location finder they do user more sophisticated methods than a simple IP lookup so yes they'll be able to pinpoint about the same as your cell phone provider.

I'm not quiet the hard core techie I once was but I'm pretty sure this is still the rule of thumb.

Yep, you got it basically right but IP geolocation has gotten LOADS better in the last 2-3 years. I'd say it's more like 5-10 miles now. Of course that's for home services. For cell phones it gets a bit trickier and the accuracy varies by region quit a bit... but it'll still get you in the right city or damn close most times.


(I do a ton of geolocation work for clients dealing with google maps and google location autocomplete fields)