Centralized location broker

A method for centralizing management of user location for third party use with a centralized location system, the method being carried out by a computer having a processor and memory, the method comprising:

• receiving from a user, through a user interface of the computer, a location granularity comprising a level of location precision to which at least one location-providing application and at least one location-based service application are authorized access;
• registering the at least one location-providing application and the at least one location-based service application for system access by providing to the applications an application token and a secret;
• comparing a hashed encrypted version of the secret provided by an application attempting access with a hashed encrypted version thereof stored at registration;
• identifying the application attempting access upon finding a match of the hashed encrypted secret and verifying the application token;
• receiving location inputs from the at least one location-providing application through a location update application programming interface (API) of the computer, wherein receiving location inputs from the at least one location-providing application includes receiving from the user or an entity location inputs including at least one selected from the group consisting of a user-specified identifier or location and an identifier provided by a third party location tracking application;
• storing the location inputs in a database, coupled with the computer as stored in the memory, according to the location granularity authorized by the user for access by each location-providing application;
• receiving, by the computer, a query from a location-based service application for the location of the user;
• processing, by a location export API of the computer, the location inputs together to formulate an estimate of the current location of the user;
• updating, by the computer, the location of the user in memory with the estimate of the current location;
• and
• sending the updated location of the user to the location-based service application in response to the query and in accordance with the location granularity authorized by the user for access by the location-based service application.

A method for centralizing management of user location for third party use with a centralized location system, the method executable by a computer having a processor and memory, comprising:

• registering, by the processor, at least one location-providing application and a location-based service application for system access by receiving from the applications an application token and a secret;
• comparing, by the processor, a hashed encrypted version of the secret provided by an application attempting access with a hashed encrypted version thereof stored at registration;
• identifying, by the processor, the application attempting access upon finding a match of the hashed encrypted secret and verifying the application token;
• querying, by the processor, a location of a user from the system after registration, wherein the computer receives location inputs from at least one selected from the group consisting of a user-specified identifier or location and an identifier provided by a third party location tracking application;
• and
• receiving, by the computer, an updated location for the user according to a location granularity comprising a level of location precision specified by the user to which the location-based service application is authorized access, wherein the updated location is estimated from processing location inputs for the user obtained from the at least one location-providing application, wherein the location sent to the location-based service application is confined to the granularity as authorized by the user.