Golioth Location Overview
What is Golioth Location?
Golioth Location is a positioning service that enables connected devices to retrieve their approximate location by submitting network information to the Golioth cloud platform. The service currently supports resolving position based on cell tower and Wi-Fi access point data.
Golioth Location is currently limited to members of the private access program.
Use Cases
Network-based positioning is particularly relevant in the following scenarios.
Devices without GNSS Capabilities
Adding GNSS support to a device increases BOM cost, and powering GNSS radios can have a significant negative impact on battery life. For devices that do not require the most precise location resolution, opting to forego GNSS capabilities, or opting to use it sparingly, may be optimal. In these cases, devices can leverage network-based positioning, which is still able to provide location data with accuracy on the order of tens to hundreds of meters.
Indoor Devices and Devices in Urban Locations
Some environments make leveraging GNSS challenging or impossible. Devices that are typically indoors or in dense urban areas will frequently struggle to receive signals from GNSS satellites. Network-based positioning is a reliable alternative, providing highly accurate results in environments where information about multiple Wi-Fi access points or cell towers can be submitted.
Devices Requiring Rapid Location Resolution
Obtaining position via GNSS can take up to 15 minutes in cold start scenarios. Network-based positioning can resolve location instantly when a connection to the Golioth cloud platform is already established. Devices with low latency positioning requirements may opt to use network-based positioning instead of, or in addition to GNSS capabilities.