This past week’s “LocationGate” imbroglio has left many iPhone users wondering how, exactly, the iPhone gathers the information it does about cell phone tower locations, Wi-Fi networks and other data. While Steve Jobs and others at Apple have explained it their way, Glenn Fleishman takes a closer look at the technology.

“Typically, you see a large blue circle appear nearly instantly, a result of what must be a consultation of the local database. The circle becomes smaller as more information is used, still from cellular and Wi-Fi sources, to create a better trilateration. This data is also used to provide more clues into decoding the best GPS satellite information, allowing the use of quite small fragments of data or even raw signals to get a better lock. Finally, the circle becomes a single dot when iOS is confident it has a solid GPS lock.”

Fleishman provides an overview of how “true” GPS location tracking works, what assisted GPS is, and how Apple uses a combination of those technologies to help your iPhone figure out where it is in the world.

How the iPhone knows where you are [Macworld]