brjohnson, not sure why your interesting comment was deleted, but here it is.
>Google can know that most Honda Civic drivers in Chicago (for example) park next to McDonald's, and that their phones traveled inside the restaurant
This is already in beta testing.
>Google is beta-testing a program that uses smartphone location data to determine when consumers visit stores, according to agency executives briefed on the program by Google employees. Google then connects these store visits to Google searches conducted on smartphones in an attempt to prove that its mobile ads do, in fact, work. Google is reportedly using location in the background (on Android and iOS) and its database of business locations (my guess) to determine when people visit stores.
>Disabling location reporting also disables Google Now features tied to location, which may be undesirable.
>Google can know that most Honda Civic drivers in Chicago (for example) park next to McDonald's, and that their phones traveled inside the restaurant This is already in beta testing.
http://marketingland.com/google-quietly-testing-offline-stor...
>Google is beta-testing a program that uses smartphone location data to determine when consumers visit stores, according to agency executives briefed on the program by Google employees. Google then connects these store visits to Google searches conducted on smartphones in an attempt to prove that its mobile ads do, in fact, work. Google is reportedly using location in the background (on Android and iOS) and its database of business locations (my guess) to determine when people visit stores.
>Disabling location reporting also disables Google Now features tied to location, which may be undesirable.
It also explains why they killed Skyhook. http://www.theverge.com/2011/05/12/google-android-skyhook-la...