A technique for determining a location of a user includes a mobile computing device 100 that determines a user''s walking gait based on sensed inertial characteristics of the device. The walking gait is one of a first gait indicating that the user holds the mobile computing device on its side or a second gait indicating that the user is swinging the mobile computing device along with it. The mobile computing device detects that the user has taken a physical step based on the further sensed inertial characteristics and the user''s determined walking gait and determines the origin direction of the mobile computing device to indicate the direction of the physical step. The mobile computing device determines the user''s estimated location based on the user''s determined circle progress direction, the user''s estimated step length, and the user''s previous location.
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