LocationSmart

History

LocationSmart traces its roots to 1995, when Masoud Motamedi and Mario Proietti founded TechnoCom Corporation in Los Angeles, California. The company initially focused on wireless location technology and later rebranded as LocationSmart in 2012. A major milestone came in 2015 when LocationSmart merged with Locaid, another cloud-based location services provider, to consolidate market share and broaden its technology stack. The combined entity continued under the LocationSmart name and eventually became a wholly owned subsidiary of Locance, a holding company for geolocation assets.

Technology and Products

LocationSmart's platform is built on a multi-source location engine that aggregates data from cellular networks (GSM, CDMA, WCDMA, LTE), Wi-Fi access points, IP geolocation, and device-side SDKs. This hybrid approach allows the service to locate devices in challenging environments such as indoors or inside shipping containers, where GPS signals are weak or unavailable. The core of the offering is a RESTful API that provides consent management, device profiling, and real-time compliance checks. Key products include Gaming Geolocation Compliance, which ensures online wagers originate within legally authorized state boundaries; Asset Monitoring, which tracks IoT and M2M assets globally using cellular and Wi-Fi positioning; and Supply Chain Visibility, delivering real-time logistics status updates. LocationSmart also holds a patent for its "Zone of Relevance" technology, which defines geographic zones that trigger business rules based on device location.

Privacy Incident

In May 2018, LocationSmart came under intense media scrutiny when a security researcher discovered that a publicly accessible demo page on its website allowed unauthenticated users to obtain real-time location data of any U.S. cell phone number without the device owner's consent. The company promptly took the vulnerable page offline and issued a statement emphasizing its commitment to privacy and data security. While the incident raised significant concerns about location privacy, LocationSmart retained its relationships with regulated industries, particularly gaming and lottery operators, by reinforcing its compliance and consent protocols.

Market Position

LocationSmart serves a niche but critical market as a trusted provider of geolocation compliance for state-level iGaming and lottery jurisdictions. Its gaming service was pivotal in launching mobile wagering in Nevada, Delaware, and New Jersey. Beyond gaming, the company counts Fortune 500 enterprises among its clients for IoT asset tracking and supply chain solutions. Competitors include other location-as-a-service providers such as Location Services Inc. and Here Technologies, though LocationSmart's focus on regulatory compliance gives it a unique position. The company processes billions of location queries annually across hundreds of millions of devices, leveraging a global database of cell sites and Wi-Fi access points. Despite its small headcount of approximately 11 employees, LocationSmart remains a key infrastructure player for regulated industries.