System and methods for obtaining coarse location for a mobile device

A method comprising:

• detecting location reference nodes in view of a mobile device;
• and
• sending a location query to a location database, the location query comprising node data identifying the reference nodes in view of the mobile device;
• receiving positioning information from the location database for providing a coarse location of the mobile device, the positioning information based on correlated position data and node data received from one or more client devices having Global Positioning System (GPS) position determination capability and configured to report position data and node data for location reference nodes in view, wherein a probabilistic weight applied to the positioning information based on a type of radio used within each location reference node in view;
• displaying a map in response to the positioning information;
• accepting user input to the map;
• and
• sending the user input to the location database for adjusting the positioning information.

A computer-readable storage medium comprising executable computer program instructions that when executed enable a computing system to:

• detect location reference nodes in view of a mobile device;
• send a location query to a location database, the location query comprising node data identifying the reference nodes in view of the mobile device;
• receive positioning information from the location database for providing a coarse location of the mobile device, the positioning information based on correlated position data and node data received from one or more client devices having Global Positioning System (GPS) position determination capability and configured to report position data and node data for location reference nodes in view, and a probabilistic weight applied to the positioning information based on a type of radio used within each location reference node in view;
• display a map in response to the positioning information;
• accept user input to the map;
• and
• send the user input to the location database for adjusting the positioning information.