The Global Positioning System (GPS) works on the principle that if you know your distance from several known locations, then you can calculate your location. The “known” locations are GPS satellites themselves, and the distance is measured by measuring the time of arrival of an encoded signal. The data stream is broadcast at a very slow rate of 50 bits per second. It often takes several minutes for a conventional GPS receiver to download the required data from the satellites before computing its own location. Under these conditions, the GPS signal is often of very poor quality, making it hard for receivers to obtain a position.

Assisted GPS describes a system where outside sources, such as an assistance server and cellular tower, help a GPS receiver perform the tasks required to make range measurements and position solutions. The assistance server has the ability to access information from the cellular network and also has computing power far beyond that of the GPS receiver.

Today, Nokia announced official software upgrades to support Assisted GPS in Nokia 6110 and N95. This service has the ability to reduce the time a connected mobile device with built in GPS needs to find its current position, known as time to first fix (TTFF) for most geographical locations worldwide. The reduced fix times can increase and improve the usability for all Nokia location-based experiences. While Nokia 6110 has inbuilt support for A-GPS, you need to install the latest firmware (v12) from http://www.nokia.com/softwareupdate to take advantage of this feature on Nokia 95.