Geolocate

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To determine or identify the geographical position of a device or object using satellite signals, IP address, or other location data sources
2. To find or assign the exact geographic coordinates of a person, object, or signal by analyzing signals or digital data from various sources
3. To establish the physical location on the Earth’s surface of a device, network node, or entity through technological methods such as GPS or IP mapping

Etymology: "Geolocate" is a plain compound: "geo-," from Greek "gē" meaning earth, joined to "locate," which comes from Latin "locare" ("to place," from "locus," place). Put together, the literal sense is to place something on the earth, or to find where it sits on the planet's surface. The verb's modern meaning is a narrower and more technical sense of that older idea. Locating something once meant identifying a place in general terms, such as a town or a building. Adding "geo-" points the word at the planet's coordinate system of latitude and longitude, and the modern sense has moved toward determining those coordinates by reading signals or digital data, such as GPS satellite pings, Wi-Fi networks, or IP addresses.

Synonyms: locate, position, find