What is Mobile Location Data? Examples, Datasets and Providers

How is Mobile Location Data Collected?

Mobile location information is collected by geolocation database providers. Location data companies deploy a range of sources and techniques to collect their data, such as:

• GPS \<\> mobile device ID , which measures movement over time. The mobile device uses location signals provided by GPS satellites for positioning by measuring the length of time it takes the signal to reach the device. GPS is especially good at receiving location signals outdoors.
• Indoors,  Wifi  provides good mobile location signals and is useful when GPS is unavailable or blocked by buildings, making it impossible to collect phone GPS data.
• Beacons are static signal receivers that also accurately provide mobile location data.
• Devices can also use  mobile cell towers , such as those provided by telecommunications companies such as Telco, to triangulate position and accurately collect cellphone location data and supply mobile phone data feeds.
• Ad agencies buy mobile location data direct from app, website and network providers.They also buy bundles of location-based data from ad networks.
• Mobile location data providers and location data platforms sell data to ad exchanges which sell to ad agencies in realtime through a ‘bid request’. Every time a bid request is made, mobile location data is created which ad agencies package up, along with other data information, to sell to businesses.
• Vast amounts of customer location data are collected in this way and compiled in a location based database. Because the data is captured programmatically, it can be used right away.
• App publishers often use location data provided by the device’s built-in location provision to collect mobile location data, such as the locations of nearby restaurants. To this this, app developers install Software Development Kits.

What Are Location SDKs?

Software development kits (SDKs) are tools for developers to add third-party functionality into apps. The app developers use a location-based SDK for accessing the accurate location information on their devices. Some location software packages are used for location functionality in the OS. Others perform additional processing and data processing for increased accuracy. Certain SDKs are only installed on integrated apps when an app opens up. Some people will use the software to obtain greater insight into the movements and behaviors of their devices.

How Can Location SDKs Collect Location Data?

Location SDKs can collect location data in several different ways. For example, GPS tracking services can be enabled to provide real-time position updates, and access points such as Wi-Fi hotspots or cellular towers can be used to triangulate a device’s location. Additionally, other methods of collecting mobile location data include leveraging sensor data from the device itself, as well as incorporating satellite imagery data. By utilizing these methods, accuracy of data can be improved and more precise geographical insight can be obtained.

Location SDKs offer multiple benefits to businesses who are looking to collect mobile location data. Not only do they increase accuracy, but they also provide greater insights into customer behaviors and movements which help businesses develop data-driven strategies and increase ROI.

Why Do Data Companies Use SDKs to Collect Mobile Location Data?

App developers often add location based SDKs to make location data more accurate. Some only work when the app is open, but others work in the background even when the app isn’t being accessed to gain broader insights. Location based SDKs gather information with the device user’s consent. Sometimes this consent is explicitly asked for each time. Sometimes it is included in the terms and conditions.

Software development kits (SDKs) are a more sophisticated way of measuring location data and getting location-based customer insights. Some SDKs may have their own mobile location services and POI systems built in, such as measuring location entry and exit times and floors visited in large department stores and shopping malls. These phone data intelligence measurements can be used to build and segment location-based audiences.

Utilising SDKs has other benefits. For instance, mobile location data using a single signal may record a device is at a location for 15 minutes. The location is outside a retail store. The natural assumption might be the consumer shopped in the store for 15 minutes. However, using SDK multiple signals, we discover the consumer didn’t actually enter the store. Perhaps they were waiting to meet some-one outside the store. Or perhaps they were stuck in traffic in the road outside. We can see the need of obtaining mobile location data that is accurate and precise in order to be of benefit to your business. Using SDKs makes mobile geolocation data more precise by using multiple sources to verify and correlate the information for the most accurate mobile location analytics.

Why isn’t all Data Collected Using SDKs?

Data collected using SDKs can be expensive, and the accuracy of location data depends on the quality of the SDK being used.

Additionally, not all devices have an integrated SDK, so collecting data with such tools may limit the amount of information that can be captured. Furthermore, there are privacy concerns to consider when sharing such personal data over open networks.

Collecting & Analyzing

The process of collecting and analyzing mobile location data involves a variety of technology and software. GPS tracking services can be enabled to provide real-time position updates, and access points such as Wi-Fi hotspots or cellular towers can be used to triangulate a device’s location. Other methods of collecting mobile location data include leveraging sensor data from the device itself, as well as incorporating satellite imagery. Location SDKs (Software Development Kits) offer multiple benefits to businesses who are looking to collect mobile location data. Not only do they increase accuracy, but they also provide greater insights into customer behaviors and movements which help businesses develop data-driven strategies and increase ROI.

How is Mobile Location Data Similar to Other Kinds of Data?

Mobile location data is similar to other kinds of geospatial data. For example, a sub-category of mobile location data is mobile app location data.

What is Mobile App Location data?

Mobile app location data refers to information used by mobile apps to identify precise geographical coordinate points of mobile devices. Data collected through smartphones apps can include location and visit information, including data about nearby POIs, cell phone towers or wifi routers, and information about app usage on the given phone.

What Does Mobile Location Data look like?

There are two basic types of location data which include vector data and raster data.

Vector data

Vector data uses polygons, lines and points to represent features such as roads, mountains, water masses and cities that are mapped and stored in a geographic information system (GIS). A vector is split into point, line and polygon data. Line data is used to represent linear features. Point data represents non-adjacent features and discrete data points. Polygon data is used to represent areas such as boundary of a city, lake or forest.

Raster data

Raster data is cell-based and it includes aerial and satellite imagery. The two types of raster data are continuous and discrete. Continuous data includes temperature and elevation measurements, while an example of discrete data could be population density in a given location.

Both raster and vector data correspond to coordinates. Mobile location data is expressed in the form of latitude and longitude coordinates (lat/long). These coordinates can be mapped to the location of the mobile device at that precise time, just like how GPS data gathers data from GPS-enabled devices. The difference between location data generated from the global positioning system and data collected from connected devices is that mobiles produce more high quality geolocation signals. But what exactly do we mean by data quality?

How Can I Ensure that Mobile Location Data is Good Quality?

The factors affecting mobile location data are accuracy, precision and relevance of the information collected.

Accuracy

Data accuracy refers to how close the location measurement is to the actual location. As you might expect, mobile location data has to be accurate for it to be useful! In fact, only providers which can guarantee accuracy can provide valuable data. The most robust dataset will have an error rate of \> 1%.

Calculating Accuracy

Location data is calculated using GPS, Wi-Fi, IP address, cell triangulation and registration data to produce precise longitude/latitude coordinates referring to the device’s location. The mobile location data is accurate up to 30 metres on average depending on a number of factors, such as signal strength. For marketers seeking more accurate data, it is recommended to seek mobile location data vendors that utilize showcase data accuracy measures, such as having good customer reviews and verifying their data against diversify sources. If in doubt, before you buy mobile location data, ask for the providers’ quality filters.

Improving Accuracy

The accuracy of mobile location data can be improved by leveraging the following techniques:

1. Utilize Multiple Data Sources – Combining multiple sources of location data, such as GPS and Wi-Fi triangulation, can increase the accuracy of mobile location data.

2. Integrate Third-Party Providers – By integrating third-party data providers, such as cellular tower information and Wi-Fi hotspot locations, accuracy can be further improved.

3. Use Advanced Filtering Algorithms – Filtering algorithms can help to eliminate errors in location data by taking into account factors such as signal strength and line of sight constraints.

4. Utilize Real-Time Corrections – By utilizing real-time corrections, such as altitude and speed estimates, accuracy can be improved.

5. Utilize Satellite Imagery – Integrating satellite imagery into mobile location data can help to improve its accuracy.

6. Leverage Machine Learning Technologies – Machine learning technologies can be used to identify patterns in data that could indicate errors.

Precision

In contrast, precision refers to how close measurements are to each other. The more multiple sources of data match up with each other, the more precise the mobile location data is considered to be. Precision is also related to granularity of data. Basically, granular location data will place a mobile device within a metre of accuracy.

Relevance

As we’ve seen, mobile location data is used for locating where a device and its user are at any particular time. But to make use of this information it is necessary for businesses to know what exactly can be found in that location. Only then is the raw location data relevant in a business context! For this reason, mobile location data is often used with point-of-interest (POI) data and map data to give greater insights. Mobile phone location data can record geographically where a device is. When this is enriched with POI data, you’re able to see what is attracting people to that location: a department store, hospital, event, landmark etc.

How to Assess the Quality of Mobile Location Data?

When purchasing mobile location data, the quality of the data is of paramount importance. The quality and accuracy of the data will depend on the source. Before you buy data, keep the following quality-assessment questions in mind:

• How is the mobile location data collected?
• What are the location data sources? Is more than one source used?
• How detailed is the data?
• How contextual is the data?
• How does the provider check for misleading data?
• What are the database update frequencies?

Once you’ve assured that the data is high quality - that is, it’s accurate, precise, and relevant- you can start putting it to use. Let’s look at some example use cases.

Which Industries Uses Mobile Location Data and for What Use Cases?

Organizations across industries buy cell phone location data. Mobile location data is used by many businesses, including retail, finance, government, healthcare and real estate.

Retail

Retail companies use mobile location data to gain insights into customer behavior and preferences. By analyzing location data, they can identify popular shopping areas, measure how long customers stay in a store, and see the frequency of customer visits. This information can be used to optimize store layouts, marketing campaigns, and product offerings. For example, a retailer may notice that customers tend to spend more time in the shoe section of their store and less time in the jewelry section. They can use this information to adjust their store layout and product offerings to better meet customer demand.

Finance

In finance, mobile location data can be used to track customer spending habits and to detect fraud. By analyzing location data, financial institutions can identify patterns of spending and detect unusual activity. For example, if a customer typically uses their credit card in their hometown but suddenly makes a purchase in a foreign country, this may indicate fraud. Location data can also be used to provide more personalized financial services, such as targeted ads for credit cards or loans based on a customer’s location and spending habits.

Government

Governments can use mobile location data to track population movement during natural disasters, pandemics, or other emergency situations. By analyzing location data, governments can determine where people are congregating and redirect resources to those areas. This information can also be used to track the spread of diseases and to inform public health interventions.

Healthcare

Healthcare organizations can use mobile location data to track patients and staff within a hospital or medical facility. By analyzing location data, they can optimize patient flow, reduce wait times, and improve overall patient experience. For example, a hospital may use location data to identify bottlenecks in their emergency room and adjust staffing levels accordingly.

Real Estate

Real estate companies can use mobile location data to measure footfall and to determine the value of a property based on its proximity to points of interest such as restaurants, shopping centers, and transportation hubs. By analyzing location data, real estate companies can identify popular areas and adjust their pricing strategy accordingly. For example, a real estate company may charge more for a property located in a popular shopping district than for one located in a less popular area.

An increasing number of businesses and organizations across all of these industries are making the most of mobility data for a range of use cases and location-driven opportunities.

Use Cases for Mobile Location Data

Strategy & Marketing

Using software development kits (SDKs), businesses can track target audiences and how much time they spend in their store or the stores of their competitors. They can detect what time of day consumers are visiting their stores, which can help stores decide opening hours and staffing levels. And they can detect potential customers living in the area and what businesses are already utilised by customers in the area. In a marketing context, cell phone location data can help businesses build better and more targeted geolocation mobile marketing campaigns, as well as to enrich their existing geolocation datasets.

Analysis

Mobile location data analysis refers to the process of applying data analytics tools to assess and evaluate geographical information concerning a specific device’s whereabouts related to a time identifier. In carrying out this analysis, the mobile location acts as a vector corresponding to the location of a person. The core purpose of location data analysis is to offer insights into specific audience movement. Location data analysis is used to develop user-defined intelligence reports and identify specific consumer patterns for the purpose tailoring of sales and marketing efforts to consumers’ locations and visit patterns.

Programmatic advertising

The beverage brands target consumers on their trip. The venue that stocks these items is identified. By putting visitor data into a programmatic stack, the application allows for the delivery of a mobile advertisement to the device during this visit or after a certain period. The ads can appear in the store or while browsing web pages for a particular device. A remarketing campaign using social visitors in gyms with drinks is a way to build audiences. Then the audience will go to the targeted Facebook page.

Digital campaign attribution

A fashion agency is promoting clothes and the company. It reaches audience programmer. Using this campaign, the retailer hopes the campaign will increase sales of redesigned items for customers in the future. Whether impressions have been a factor in the clickthrough rates of the website, brands are interested in knowing in a specific way that the campaign is driving customers to the shop. The targeted demographics for the IDFA/AAID campaign have been identified by analyzing the location information. A control audience can be constructed to compare exposure groups against people who were not targeted during a campaign.

Footfall mapping

Mobile location data can measure footfall and how it changes over time. It can measure what stores in the area your potential customers visit and what they purchase. It can measure how often customers visit your business and how long they stay there.

Location-based advertising

We often hear about how location data is shaping modern day advertising. But what actually is location based advertising, and how does it work? Well, marketing campaigns thrive when they target ideal audiences.

Mobile location data helps businesses to understand how consumers move and behave in the real world. It can give insights into audience movement, behaviour, interests and intent. Mobile location data can build up a detailed picture of consumers, which helps businesses to create more relevant and targeted marketing campaigns.

If a potential customer has just entered a shopping mall in which you have a store, you can instantly send them a marketing message in real-time to encourage them to visit your store during their visit to the mall. These location-triggered ads are an important part of mobile location advertising.

Audience segmentation

Mobile location data can be used to target potential customers based on their interests. This opportunity for personalization is causing a boom in the mobile location analytics market. For example, health food store may see from mobile location data that a segment of consumers visit a nearby gym three times or more a week. Since these consumers are likely interested in a healthy lifestyle, the health food store may decide to target them and make them aware of its health food products. Mobile phone location data makes it easier to ensure you are targeting the right audience at the right time.

Retargeting

Mobile location-based data can also be used for retargeting. Only some consumers will respond to marketing campaigns in real time. But by retargeting even when the consumer has left the location, businesses can convert more potential customers. So let’s look again at our health store’s potential customers. Maybe the health store decides to target potential customers the night before they are due to go to the gym. Or an hour before they are due to go to the gym. Both of these options rely on a database of consumer cellular locations. Using mobile location data from geolocation data providers to retarget can convert more consumers.

Competitive targeting

Another way historical mobile location data versus real-time can be used is to target competitor’s consumers. Building up a picture of competitors’ consumers over time can help with targeting those consumers with marketing offers that may cause them to convert to your business. Predictive location marketing is part of this: if you can build a customer profile based on their historical behavior and visitation patterns, you can predict the locations they’ll visit in future and build campaigns centered around these places, targeting these consumers.

Personalized outreach

Consumers today want and expect a personalised service. Mobile location data helps businesses deliver a personalised service and build a better rapport with their consumers. Businesses can tailor ads to specific segments of their customers or potential customers based on cellular location data. This increases customer satisfaction, as customers like to receive relevant marketing. Using mobile location intelligence for mobile location based advertising also decreases customer dissatisfaction, as customers don’t like to receive ads which aren’t relevant to them.

Omni-channel marketing

When consumers see an ad online and then make a purchase online, it’s pretty easy to see the correlation between seeing the ad and making the purchase. But what about when the consumer sees an ad online and then makes a purchase offline in store? This is where mobile consumer location data can be essential in bridging the gap between online marketing and offline purchases, by allowing businesses to see how many online targeted consumers then purchase in store. Using external cell location data in conjunction with marketing data gives location-based mobile advertising companies a better measure of how well their marketing campaigns are working.

What Are Typical Mobile Location Data Attributes?

Mobile location data offerings vary from provider to provider. Here are some of the most common mobile location data attributes:

Does IP address change as Mobile Location changes?

Yes Internet Protocol (IP) address changes with location. However, it largely depends with the network carrier in use. For fixed cellular network provider, the IP address may not change according to location. An IP address basically denotes a device user’s physical location and is it applied in the process of facilitating communication between two nodes on the internet. Internet Service Providers (ISP) assign designated IP addresses, while maintaining a block of dynamic IP addresses that are in constant circulation throughout the facilitator’s customer base. In the event that a user moves to different geographical location and change broadband providers, the IP address is subject to change too.

How is Mobile Location Data Typically Priced?

There are two main pricing models for mobile location data and geolocation datasets in general. These include:

• Flat-file purchase, charged on a one-off basis for a single data download
• Location services, which often charge a monthly subscription rate

Location service plans differ in price depending on the services required. When you buy a dataset from a location data marketing platform, the starting plan might include a number of monthly reports, while a more advanced plan may include unlimited reports, customized data and sales forecasting.

What to Ask Mobile Location Data Providers?

Want to find the best database for location data? When buying mobile location data, there are several questions buyers should ask, such as:

• How is the mobile location data collected?
• Is POI data included?
• Is the data accurate in real time?
• How often is the mobile location data updated?
• How do you verify the mobile location data you supply?
• What error detection do you have in place for each phone location dataset?
• Can the mobile location data you supply be customized to my business needs?
• Can the system provide predictive sales forecasts?
• Are you integrated with a location data targeting platform?
• Have you received good reviews for your location data service?

What Are the Benefits and Challenges of Buying Mobile Location Data?

The benefits of using mobile location data for businesses and organizations are significant. It can provide valuable insights into customer behavior and preferences, improve operational efficiency, and inform strategic decision-making. However, there are also challenges associated with collecting and using mobile location data.

Cost & Accuracy

Data collected using SDKs can be expensive. And although in general SDKs are accuracate, this can vary depending on the quality of the SDK being used. Additionally, not all devices have an integrated SDK, so collecting data with such tools may limit the amount of information that can be captured. First-party data will usually be more accurate and relevant than third-party data, which has already gone through several agencies before being purchased for your business use, whether it’s mobile geolocation advertising, or POI mapping. Furthermore, there are privacy concerns to consider when sharing such personal data over open networks - which we’ll look at now.

Privacy

Obviously, buyers need to carefully consider the benefits and challenges of using mobile location data. And providers must ensure that they are collecting and using data in an ethical and transparent manner. By doing so, both parties can harness the power of mobile location data to improve their operations and better serve their customers.

However, the use of mobile location data has raised ethical concerns and privacy implications. Some people may feel uncomfortable with their location data being collected and used for commercial purposes. There is also the risk of location data being accessed by hackers, which could lead to identity theft or other security breaches. So it’s vital that data vendors and brokers are transparent about their data collection methods and to obtain consent from users before collecting their location data.

There are several common misconceptions about mobile location data, including the idea that it is always accurate and that it can be used to track individuals without their knowledge or consent. In reality, the accuracy of mobile location data can vary depending on the quality of the data source and the technology being used. Additionally, collecting and using location data without consent is illegal and unethical - all data providers running a legitimate DaaS business must comply with relevant privacy laws to comply with ethical and legal guidelines. It goes without saying that vendors must be transparent about their data collection methods and to obtain consent from users before collecting their location data. A trustworthy mobile location data provider will always be able to produce proof that their collection methods are privacy compliant.

To maintain privacy, you can buy anonymized cell phone data. Anonymized mobile location data has to be aggregated and consent-managed to protect the identity of its users and stay in line with GDPR and CCPA regulations.

Managing these challenges

Wondering how to buy location data? Make sure you keep the following considerations and possible challenges in mind when talking to a location data provider:

• Ensuring the mobile location data is first-party
• Data collected using SDKs is more accurate
• It’s vital to buy privacy-compliant data to ensure the provider isn’t breaching GDPR or CCPA regulations.

How Accurate is Mobile Location Data?

Many datasets offer up to 100% GPS accuracy, ensuring that the data you receive closely matches real-world locations and movement patterns. Some datasets even go as precise as sub-19 meter resolution, which can be especially useful if you need highly detailed insights. If you’re planning to use this data for location-based marketing or site selection, we recommend opting for GPS-based data to get the best results.

How Frequently is Mobile Location Data Updated?

Mobile location data can be updated as frequently as real-time, depending on the provider. For some use cases, real-time updates are invaluable, like for dynamic ad targeting or monitoring foot traffic in busy retail environments. Other datasets update daily, weekly, or monthly. If you’re tracking long-term trends, you might also benefit from historical data. Our suggestion: choose the update frequency that best matches your project goals—real-time for fast-paced industries, or daily/weekly updates for ongoing insights.

How is Mobile Location Data Secured?

Security is a top priority for our mobile location data providers. The data is always anonymized to protect privacy, and strict security measures like encryption are used during collection and delivery. Providers make sure that user consent is properly obtained, following privacy regulations like GDPR. If you’re worried about security, we suggest choosing a provider that is fully transparent regarding the consent and data protection policies.

How is Mobile Location Data Delivered?

Mobile location data can be delivered in formats like .csv, .json, or via API, depending on how you prefer to work with it. The data can be stored in cloud services like S3 buckets, securely transferred via FTP, or accessed through real-time API calls. This flexibility makes it easy to integrate into your existing systems. If you’re just starting out, we’d recommend using .csv for a simple and straightforward way to analyze the data, then scaling up with APIs if you need more real-time access.

How Much Does Mobile Location Data Cost?

The cost of mobile location data depends on several factors—data volume, geographic coverage, and the type of license you need. You can usually choose between one-off purchases, monthly subscriptions, or yearly licenses. Some providers also offer usage-based pricing, especially if you need data through an API. Datarade offers free data samples, so we recommend testing the quality before making a full purchase to ensure it meets your needs.

What Geographic Areas Are Covered by Mobile Location Data?

Mobile location data typically covers regions all around the globe, including Africa, Asia, Europe, North and South America, and Oceania. Most datasets offer coverage in over 200 countries. This global reach is particularly useful if you’re planning to operate across different markets or need insights for large-scale projects. If you’re focused on a specific region, make sure to check the provider’s coverage map to confirm they cover your areas of interest.