Yes, those existed at some level, but once GPS was built in, it became “free” and easy to get location. Assisted GPS (using cell position and downloaded ephemer

Yes, those existed at some level, but once GPS was built in, it became “free” and easy to get location. Assisted GPS (using cell position and downloaded ephemeris) also meant you didn’t need a couple minutes for a dedicated GPS to go from a cold start. There wouldn’t have been Uber, Yelp or Pokémon Go before location was just an API call.