Geolocation is the process of locating or estimating a location for something that exists in the real world.

And in general, that thing you're trying to find in real life also exists somewhere else,

either in the digital space, the cellular space, or as the source of something like a radar signal. There are many different ways to trace a signal,

whatever type of signal it may be. When it comes to a mobile phone signal, for instance,

there are many different breadcrumbs that people or software can follow back to the source.

If your phone is connected to a mobile service, its location can be

semi-accurately triangulated by checking which cell tower it last pinged, and then finding two

or more other nearby cell towers to help narrow down the search radius. The most modern phones

also have GPS units built into the device,

and the sole purpose of such a unit is to help locate with pinpoint accuracy that device

anywhere on the planet. It does this by checking in with satellites, which are positioned

in orbit in such a way, that at any given time, just about anywhere on the planet,

your device will have a line of sight to at least four such satellites.

And these satellites contain highly precise atomic clocks.

By checking the difference in the time code embedded in the signal picked up by your device from each of these four different satellites,

it can determine how far away each of them are to a very granular degree.

This gives your device a GPS location, which then shows with great specificity where you are on the planet.

You can also be tracked via less pinpoint mechanisms, like by determining which

Wi-Fi network you're currently logged into, or by using the geographic metadata attached

to a photo that you took and then posted on a social network.

Most smartphone services actually use a combination of such sources to figure out where

the phone you're using is currently located.

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