Let’s Go Over The Different Ways To Do This:

GPS: Also called the Global Positioning System. The one we all know and love, and if you are anything like me, reminds you of the first Jurassic Park. This is the most accurate way of locating an object and does not require the internet! The device uses a receiver to directly receive signals from a network of satellites orbiting the Earth, and yes, most smartphones have a built-in GPS.

Cell Phone Towers: This is also called network-based geolocation. Your phone provider’s infrastructure determines your location through a process called network triangulation. Which sounds super complicated but boils down to determining a device’s location by drawing triangles between it and known network points, like slicing a pizza, with your device at the centre and the crust edges the different cell towers. Since this is based on network providers, the location accuracy depends on the network coverage in that area. So if you decide to get lost in the mountains, you’ll find out if OS really is essential for living (Purely for the UK audience).

Wi-Fi access points: Also called Wi-Fi positioning, it is the lightest-weight way of finding locations and, in my view, the most interesting. Essentially, every Wi-Fi router, at all times, broadcasts a unique identifier as if it were a landmark on a giant Wi-Fi map (which companies have been building for years). So, when Wi-Fi is on, your device can see many nearby Wi-Fi networks, each with its own unique ID. Your phone identifies all of these (even if it doesn’t access them), so as it passes through and identifies them, your device’s location can be determined, similar to how you find where you are on a map based on the landmarks on a street. The only thing is that, unlike all the other methods here, wifi is most accurate within 10 meters (cause it’s a radio wave). Which means within buildings it is optimal, but at a distance…not as much

IP address: This method can be used by any device that can connect to the internet…which is a lot in today’s world. Every device, when it goes online, is given an IP address; it’s how the internet knows where to send information back to. But the IP addresses are not random; they are assigned in regional chunks that can be at the country level, city level, and sometimes as deep as the neighbourhood. Behind the scenes, there are large IP location databases that map IP addresses to your device’s location. The catch is that it cannot provide specific longitude & latitude coordinates, but it can provide a general area.

Bluetooth: works similarly to Wifi access points. Most devices have Bluetooth capabilities, so when Bluetooth is turned on, your device passes other Bluetooth beacons that broadcast their positions, allowing your device to be located based on proximity.