Apps that have location distances away

[NastyRigPig]

If I’m on an app that says a potential hook up is 2 miles away, and I know what neighborhood he lives in, would I be able to figure out where he lives by going to that neighborhood, refreshing the app repeatedly until I got closer and closer?  No, I’m not trying to stalk anyone, I’m honestly curious. 

[Arcaner]

triangulation might be better. However that's assuming that the location in the app is reasonably accurate, precise, and regularly updating.

[BootmanLA]

2 hours ago, NastyRigPig said:

If I’m on an app that says a potential hook up is 2 miles away, and I know what neighborhood he lives in, would I be able to figure out where he lives by going to that neighborhood, refreshing the app repeatedly until I got closer and closer?  No, I’m not trying to stalk anyone, I’m honestly curious. 

Many geo-location dating/hookup apps limit the resolution to several hundred feet precisely to prevent that kind of thing. Otherwise, you could have stalker crazies tracking down someone via the app and targeting them for harassment, injury, or death. 

One app I'm familiar with limits the resolution to 2/10ths of a mile, or a little over 1,000 feet. It may be possible, particularly in rural areas or suburbs with large lots, to figure someone out. But in a denser-populated city you might not even be able to resolve which building someone's in, or possibly not even which side of the block.

I'm not sure all such apps do that, but from a liability perspective, they probably should. 

[NastyRigPig]

Thanks, I’ve always been curious about it.  

[ErosWired]

I wouldn’t count on accuracy. I’ve had apps tell me I’m a tenth of a mile away from myself. While bilocation would actually be convenient - I’ve always thought that fucking myself would be spectacularly good sex - it appears to simply be a result of imprecise data from GPS satellites.

That’s not to say you can’t make deductions. As @BootmanLA notes above, if you’re on a rural road and the app pings a guy within 500 feet and there’s only one house in view, chances are you can zero in. But accuracy has it’s limits: A guy had arranged to meet me at an ABS not long ago, and he texted me to ask if I had arrived, I described what I was (and wasn’t) wearing, and shortly the app showed him at 25 feet away. He hadn’t described himself, so I couldn’t pick him out from the others present, and then after a bit, the app showed his distance increase until it was obvious he had flaked on me and left.

 I have occasionally found the distance meter useful when hosting, and some guy tells me “On my way” but then his location  distance stays exactly the same - I don’t end up wasting a lot of time wondering where he is or if he’s going to show.