Localization Information Retrieval Exploiting Cooperation Among Mobile Devices

Localization information retrieval is breaking new ground for mobile applications for indoor or urban areas. GPS is the positioning technology that powers the majority of the navigation devices today, it comes along with high complexity, high energy consuption and limited coverage for indoor. The main idea of this paper is to exploit cooperation among mobile devices to retrieve their geographical position without using GPS. The information used by the proposed mechanism is only based on the cell-id and the signal strength. Google has launched something similar for stand alone mobile phones with its new feature called My Location. The authors enhance this service using cooperation among mobile devices sharing the knowledge of cell IDs and signal strength.