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Mozilla announced what it calls an experimental pilot project, Mozilla Location Service, which is invariably a geolocation lookup based on publicly observable cell tower and Wi-Fi access point information. Albeit, it is still in early developmental stages, but it already provides a basic service experience in select locations.

The company is aiming the mobile ecosystem with the new service, especially mobile phones with weak GPS signal and additionally, laptops without GPS hardware can use this service to quickly identify their approximate location.

And before now, there's no large public service to provide this crucial part of any mobile ecosystem. Mozilla intends to tackle the technical challenges by getting real data, and leveraging on open-source technology to improving privacy issues which have hitherto plagued such related service offerings.

Even as geolocation data is by its very nature personal and privacy sensitive, the fact that the signals are publicly accessible posed some risks.

The service is evolving rapidly and already provides basic coverage in select locations within the following countries: U.S., Brazil, Australia, Indonesia and Russia.

Mozilla Location Service: What You need to Know

Mozilla announced what it calls an experimental pilot project, Mozilla Location Service, which is invariably a geolocation lookup based on publicly observable cell tower and Wi-Fi access point information. Albeit, it is still in early developmental stages, but it already provides a basic service experience in select locations.

The company is aiming the mobile ecosystem with the new service, especially mobile phones with weak GPS signal and additionally, laptops without GPS hardware can use this service to quickly identify their approximate location.

And before now, there's no large public service to provide this crucial part of any mobile ecosystem. Mozilla intends to tackle the technical challenges by getting real data, and leveraging on open-source technology to improving privacy issues which have hitherto plagued such related service offerings.

Even as geolocation data is by its very nature personal and privacy sensitive, the fact that the signals are publicly accessible posed some risks.

The service is evolving rapidly and already provides basic coverage in select locations within the following countries: U.S., Brazil, Australia, Indonesia and Russia.
Emerging Technology