Is GPS Tracking More Than Just Your Location?

Weekly Wheaties #2619

May 11, 2026

In this newsletter:

📝 Post: Is GPS Tracking More Than Just Your Location?
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: Apple Updates
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: OpenAI Updates
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: Tech Headlines
😎 Pick of the Week: Alternate Hobbies
📦 Featured Product: LEGO Art

📝 Is GPS Tracking More Than Just Your Location?

I think it’s safe to assume everyone with a smart phone is aware of GPS. The Global Positioning System (GPS) hardware in your phone tells other apps where you are physically located on the planet by way of communicating with (3 or more) satellites. Depending on the building you are physically in, the accuracy could change, though. The type of roof, multiple floors, and size of the building all play into this - similar to how your phone’s cell signal degrades, too. However, the GPS software can utilize other connection types (e.g., cell signal, Bluetooth, WiFi) to guesstimate where you are, especially indoors.

But GPS isn’t just used for telling you where you are. Obviously it helps you with mapping your way from one location to another, but the power from GPS comes from the millions of other devices also using GPS. Your phone is part of one of the largest data collection sorts available, and millions of others can benefit from it. I’ve mentioned multiple times in these newsletters about the gray area between security and convenience. We give up some level of security when using GPS apps in lieu of the convenience it provides us.

So what other conveniences do we receive from our GPS?

Specifically with mapping, traffic is one of the largest pieces and biggest audience for GPS. We are able to see which routes will take longer based on the number of people currently on the same route. However, it’s also a bit deeper than that. Every time someone enters their destination, the maps now know where everyone else is going, thereby helping with future traffic conditions. That’s how these apps are able to predict how long it will take you to get from point A to point B, even if it’s a longer drive. They can also infer accidents, road closures, trains, simple congestion, and more.

When traffic apps share information with other apps on your devices, the power can be compounded to help businesses and individuals alike. For example, GPS helps with restaurants, sports venues, and overall shopping by popularity. By knowing how many people (devices) are heading that way, already inside the building, and an average of how long customers stay, wait times can be determined for restaurants.

For sports venues, GPS helps predict crowd movement like where do people go at half time for a football game? As people begin to leave (even if they leave early), ride share apps like Uber and Lyft can begin preparing drivers.

Even theme parks can benefit from GPS use by the same metrics. Understanding where people are and where they’re going can help with estimating ride wait times. However, it can also benefit the parks for helping with staff management. Historic data shows how any of this can help customers and businesses, too. Map apps know when traffic peaks are, and these businesses can estimate when most of their customers will be coming in (and leaving).

However, there is a potential downside to this. Around 2020, a local artist - Simon Weckert, filled a wagon with 100 phones and opened Google Maps. He then walked around Berlin causing multiple roads to show red lines indicating high traffic locations. Except, Google Maps only did this because there were so many devices moving slowly where they normally wouldn’t. Check out his story on YouTube to see more.

Where the convenience and security play a role again is with accuracy. These apps are almost scary in how well they can predict what will happen. And the more and more devices using the GPS only make the predictions that more accurate. More users give the apps more data, and the more data they have, the more accurate the results will be. This can also be a negative feature, too.

But don’t think you have to turn GPS off just yet.

First off, most of the data is aggregated and anonymized. These businesses benefiting from knowing who, when, and where people are going is not tied to a specific user. Second, while GPS does typically use more battery when in use, that is typically only when it’s the active app. Meaning, if you have your maps app open on your device’s screen, it will start eating away at your battery. But if you only have the app open in the background the battery usage is minimized. Also, if you give the app permission to track you all the time, regardless if the app is even open, and depending on the exact settings, it may ping your device a couple of times an hour or every few hours.

You are benefiting from others more than they are benefitting from you. The power of what GPS offers outside of just knowing your current exact position is only escalated by the numbers of users also using it. So remember, the next time your map reroutes you around traffic, it’s not just guiding you, it’s learning from everyone around you.

🗞️ ICYMI: Apple Updates

Just a friendly reminder: I don’t like to write about or share rumors about tech. They change too much, and I don’t like to get caught up in keeping up with who said what - I would rather wait to report on what IS coming. That said, multiple reputable outlets are reporting on a new feature coming in iOS 27, their plan to Let Users Swap Models Across Apple Intelligence. This is pretty interesting because Apple Reached a $250 Million Settlement Over Claims It Misled People on A.I. Essentially, since they haven’t lived up to their AI promise, customers of the 15 Pro and 16 versions of the iPhone purchased between June 2024 and March 2025 may claim between $25-95. Since, they’ve made deals with and/or invested in multiple AI companies, including: Google, OpenAI, Anthropic. My take: give it a few years for Apple to see how and what AI customers are using before they finalize their own mainstream version.

🗞️ ICYMI: OpenAI Updates

There’s been a lot happening in AI lately, and the small updates are combining to make larger changes. It seems like users switch back and forth between models frequently, and OpenAI’s stock (not stock price…) looks to be back up. An update to ChatGPT, GPT-5.5 Instant, is stated to be smarter, clearer, and more personalized. They also launched a new realtime voice and translation AI models to rival Eleven Labs. Lastly, reports show they are Fast-Tracking an AI Phone for 2027 Launch.

🗞️ ICYMI: Tech Headlines

😎 POTW: Alternate Hobbies

Looking to be inspired or find your new time waster? If you’re already into LEGO, check out the product blurb below. Otherwise, consider some of these possibly new to you hobbies:

📦 Featured Product

In case you didn’t know, LEGO offers popular art pieces in the form of LEGO. They are generally small in size (around 2 ft max in either direction) but are still just as much as an art piece to show after building them. Some are generic like the Japanese Cherry Blossom Landscape or The Milky Way Galaxy, but some are pieces by famous artist, including:

Claude Monet’s Bridge Over a Pond of Water Lilies
Hokusai’s The Great Wave
Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa
Vincent Van Gogh’s Starry Night and Sunflowers

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