How does Google map detect location?

How does Google Maps even do that? Seriously, it's freaking amazing, isn't it? I mean, it's not just GPS, right? It's way more complicated than that. My phone's practically a little snitch, using all sorts of things – GPS of course, but also Wi-Fi networks, cell towers, even the barometer! I read somewhere that it uses something called "trilateration" – something to do with figuring out your position based on the distance to these different things. Sounds complicated, and I'm not even gonna pretend I fully understand it.

Remember that time I was trying to find that little bakery in the Marais, in Paris? Totally lost, streets all winding and confusing... and Google Maps just knew. It got me there perfectly, even when I was walking down a side street, completely hidden from view. A little unsettling, perhaps, but also incredibly helpful. It's like having a tiny, super-powered, always-watching homing pigeon in my pocket!

It’s a bit creepy, I’ll admit. I sometimes think, "Whoa, it knows where I am right now!" But then again, the convenience... I’d be hopelessly lost without it. Especially when I’m in a new city. What would I do without it? It makes me wonder, though, how much data they actually collect. And what they do with all that data. Makes you think, doesn't it?