# Amazon Location Service concepts
<a name="how-it-works"></a>

With Amazon Location Service, you can securely add location data to your application. Explore some of the capabilities by using the [visual and interactive tool](https://console.aws.amazon.com/location/explore/home), available on the Amazon Location console. Using the explore tool, you can manipulate a default map, search for points of interest, draw geofences around areas of interest, and simulate sending device locations to a tracker. 

![\[Amazon Location Service workflow showing explore, build, and deploy and monitor stages.\]](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/location/previous/developerguide/images/Amazon-Location-Service_product-page-diagram@2x.png)


When you are ready to build, create your resources and choose from a variety of map styles and data providers. Then you can install the SDK that matches your development environment, and use the Amazon Location APIs using the instructions in this guide. Additionally, you can integrate monitoring by using Amazon CloudWatch and AWS CloudTrail.

The topics in this section provide you an overview of the Amazon Location core concepts and prepare you to start working with location in your own applications. 

**Topics**
+ [Overview](overview.md)
+ [Learn about Maps resources](map-concepts.md)
+ [Learn about Places search](places-concepts.md)
+ [Learn about routing](route-concepts.md)
+ [Learn about geofences and trackers](geofence-tracker-concepts.md)
+ [Common use cases](common-usecases.md)
+ [Data providers](what-is-data-provider.md)