Determining a designated wireless device lacks a fixed geographic location and using the determination to improve location estimates

A method of determining that geographic location of a designated wireless device is not fixed, and using the determination that the geographic location of the designated wireless device is not fixed to improve location estimates, the method comprising:

• maintaining, by a wireless positioning system, a database that includes an estimated location of the designated wireless device;
• maintaining, by the wireless positioning system, a record of each instance the estimated location of the designated wireless device changed in the database;
• using the record to determine a number of relocations of the designated wireless device during a time interval;
• in response to the number of relocations exceeding a relocation threshold, determining that the geographic location of the designated wireless device is not fixed;
• and
• based on the geographic location of the designated wireless device being determined to not be fixed, excluding the designated wireless device from being used in the wireless positioning system as a beacon for estimating a location of a client device.

A wireless positioning system configured to determine that geographic location of a designated wireless device is not fixed, and use the determination that the geographic location of the designated wireless device is not fixed to improve location estimates, comprising:

• a computer system configured to estimate location of client devices;
• and
• a non-transitory computer readable media including instructions that when executed by the computer system cause the computer system to:
• determine one or more neighboring wireless devices that have relationships with a designated wireless device, wherein a relationship is established when wireless signals from a neighboring wireless device of the one or more neighboring wireless devices and the designated wireless device are detected by a same receiver;
• determine whether the geographic location of the designated wireless device is not fixed based at least in part on the relationships;
• and
• use the determination that the geographic location of the designated wireless device is not fixed in a determination whether to select the designated wireless device to be used as a beacon in the wireless positioning system for estimating the location of client devices.