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Man robbed after leaving Stony Brook T stop; suspect arrested thanks to GPS system on victim's phone

Boston Police report arresting a man they say stalked and then robbed a man who had left the Stony Brook Orange Line stop around 8:50 p.m. on Sunday - by following GPS signals from his victim's phone.

Police say Adrian Thomas, 33, followed his victim from the station a couple of blocks down Boylston Street towards Washington Street, until they reached Boylston Place:

The victim stated that he left the train station and was walking on Boylston St. when he noticed an individual walking in the same direction as him on the opposite side of the road.

When the victim approached the area of 156 Boylston St., the suspect crossed the street and demanded the victim’s belongings while gesturing to have a firearm inside the front pocket of his hooded sweatshirt. After being robbed of his cellphone, wallet, headphones, and a golden ring, the victim was able to use a bystanders phone and call 911.

The victim gave police a description - and permission to use his GPS app to track the phone, which they found pinging at Dixwell Street and Columbus Avenue, several blocks away in Egleston Square.

Officers went there and found Thomas, who matched the victim's description. He was place in custody and the victim's belongings were found nearby, police say.

Thomas was charged with armed robbery, police say.

Innocent, etc.

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Comments

I thought GPS was something broadcast from satellites, one-way; the phone doesn't send anything back to the satellites.

...it was a "find my iphone" data, or some non-Apple equivalent

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The GPS "flow" is indeed from satellite to phone to end user, whether that end user is holding the phone in question or getting updates from the phone remotely.
The phone uses the satellite's signals to calculate a location. Both Android and Apple phones have various ways (not involving the GPS satellites) for the phone to broadcast that location to end users via cellular, wifi, or bluetooth.

It's triangulation like on a real GPS system, but it uses cell towers to triangulate. I can remember 20 years ago murders being solved using cell towers to place the suspect at crime scenes.