From MSMobiles.com.
In this article we present “quick map” – a location based service at 3G operator “3″ in UK – that allows you to find out where you are at the moment (sometimes in the night and in the middle of nowhere it can be problematic). It is kind of “GPS location finding” but without GPS – usually network calculates your location based on triangulation.
As the articles points out, non-GPS location determination methods have benefits and drawbacks. They can be faster than GPS to provide a location, you don’t need to carry a separate GPS unit around with you, and location can be determined anywhere that you have network coverage (including indoors, where GPS falls down). The downside is that you’ll be charged for each location query, and depending upon the technology used the accuracy is often worse than GPS.