AlterGeo technology aggregates GSM cell-ID, Wi-Fi and WiMax to retrieve a user's location. Wi-Fi improves the accuracy delivered by mobile triangulation alone from a few hundred metres to 30-150 metres. The company doesn't specify the accuracy of WiMax triangulation, but it does offer almost 100 percent coverage in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Yandex will use the AlterGeo technology to provide location-based searches in combination with its mapping services to show the locations of nearby destinations such as shops or restaurants.
AlterGeo will continue to develop its own location-based social network. It currently provides an iPhone app as well as Windows and Mac OSX desktop applications. The network is similar to Foursquare and Gowalla, allowing the user to check in and submit ratings of venues.
The iPhone app also includes an augmented reality service that shows both places and users, visually displaying the distance between them.
