I'm not entirely familiar with the protocols in use, but I assume the cell towers publish their GPS coordinates.
When my carrier installed a new tower in my area, Google Maps would start with my location hundreds of miles away until the GPS locked on. It eventually corrected itself, but I assumed at the time that they had the wrong GPS coordinates entered for that cell location.
There are dots on my map for places I have never been, so I don't think it is coming from the on-board GPS receiver.
Comments
I'm not entirely familiar with the protocols in use, but I assume the cell towers publish their GPS coordinates.
When my carrier installed a new tower in my area, Google Maps would start with my location hundreds of miles away until the GPS locked on. It eventually corrected itself, but I assumed at the time that they had the wrong GPS coordinates entered for that cell location.
There are dots on my map for places I have never been, so I don't think it is coming from the on-board GPS receiver.