Method and apparatus for determining location of a remote unit using GPS

To address the need for faster location determination by GPS-equipped units, this application describes embodiments of the present invention that provide GPS-assist data to a remote unit ( 110 ) that is determining its location. This GPS assist data is relative to a central point of a grid element that contains the particular remote unit. The grid element is a geographical area within which a predetermined number of GPS satellites are viewable from anywhere within the grid element. By providing GPS-assist data for a grid element, the remote unit receives GPS-assist data sufficiently local in nature to help it determine its location more quickly. Also, because there are significantly fewer grid elements than cell sites over a region such as the US, the maintenance of current GPS-assist data on a grid element basis requires less network bandwidth than it would on a cell site basis.