RE: Improve documentation about the calculations nrfCloud does to derive lat,lon,precision from cells and wifi

Cole Hafner — Thu, 19 Sep 2024 20:56:15 GMT

Hi Richard,

What specifically are you interested in knowing about? I can tell you generally that Wi-Fi vs. Cell accuracy is a very different story because of their difference in range capabilities. Wi-Fi will get you a lot more accurate position than cell, with a typical accuracy of ~100 meters, while cell could be up to 1 kilometer and beyond (max range for a cell tower is up to 12km in ideal geographic conditions).

We use a value called HPE for accuracy (Horizontal Positioning Error). By default we use a 68% confidence interval when estimating the HPE for a location. This means that there is a 68% probability that the device's actual location is within the HPE radius of the returned coordinates. The API makes it easy to configure this value to increase the odds that your device is within the HPE radius.

You can check out the location services guide for more information about location services overall. Or the REST API docs if you're interested in a specific Location Services endpoint.

Best regards,

Cole