- Data Categories
Agriculture Data 
B2B Data 
Biometric Data 
Company Data 
Conservation Data 
Demographic Data 
Economic Data 
Environmental Data 
Geospatial Data 
Healthcare Data 
Individual Data 
Industry-Specific Data 
Internet of Things (IoT) Data 
Legal and IP Data 
People and Employment Data 
Political Data 
Psychology Data 
Real Estate Data 
Retail & Commerce Data 
Social Data 
Space Exploration Data 
Sports & Entertainment Data 
Web Data
- Data Categories
- Agriculture Data
- B2B Data
- Biometric Data
- Company Data
- Conservation Data
- Demographic Data
- Economic Data
- Environmental Data
- Geospatial Data
- Healthcare Data
- Individual Data
- Industry-Specific Data
- Internet of Things (IoT) Data
- Legal and IP Data
- People and Employment Data
- Political Data
- Psychology Data
- Real Estate Data
- Retail & Commerce Data
- Social Data
- Space Exploration Data
- Sports & Entertainment Data
- Web Data
What Is Location Data?
Location data refers to any information about the geographic coordinates of a device (smartphones, tablets, smart watches, etc.).
Where Does Location Data Come From?
Phones, tablets, wearable devices, and so on receive signals from GPS satellites, Wi-Fi hubs, cell towers, and beacons which emit low-energy Bluetooth signals several times per second. These technologies then record locations by noting where and when mobile devices receive these signals.
Ad servers also provide location data in the form of bid stream data. These servers record which devices receive which advertisements or visit which websites and when. Since these ads geofenced, the information allows you to identify the general area a device is in.
What Types of Columns/Attributes Should I Expect When Working with This Data?
The primary attributes of this data are longitudinal and latitudinal coordinates, device IDs, and timestamps. In fact, the length of the coordinates indicates the level of specificity of the location, with coordinates of one decimal place encompassing a large city and coordinates of five decimal places denoting a single tree or door.
Additional attributes include IP address, country code, and, for bid stream data, the app and publisher IDs.
What Is This Data Used For?
Companies primarily use this data for targeted advertising and for retargeting campaigns.
Other companies rely on the data to run: navigation and transportation applications, for example.
More seriously, emergency services use the data to search for missing or endangered individuals caught in natural disasters.
How Should I Test the Quality of Location Data?
A good location dataset should meet your specificity requirements—in other words, do you intend to advertise to a region, a city, a neighborhood? Will the dataset provide the required/necessary detail or is it too specific?
Your dataset should also update almost constantly. Most location data changes by the second and many datasets update every few seconds. Set up your data feed so that it updates automatically every few seconds or minutes.
You can easily test the data without having a technical background by taking yourself to the geofenced area to see if your data feed records you or if you receive a targeted ad.
If, instead, you choose to purchase the data from a vendor, consider their reputation (feel free to review any of the vendors you have experience with on our site!) in addition to the specificity level and update frequency.
Interesting Case Studies and Blogs to Look Into
IAB: Mobile Location Use Cases and Case Studies
MMA Global: Checking In: Use Cases for Location Data Beyond Geo-fencing
Tangible Examples of Impact
Brokers like Venntel obtain mobile phone location data from the marketing industry and sell access to it to government agencies through its software platform. The data is drawn from ordinary cellphone apps that record location information to serve targeted advertisements.
Wall Street Journal: Tax Agency Watchdog Is Investigating IRS Use of Cellphone Location Data
