Techniques for determining the position of a mobile device using almanac data are provided as are techniques for providing almanac data to the mobile device from a location server. The almanac data can be provided to the mobile device based on coarse location information provided by the mobile device. The almanac data can include information Media Access Control (MAC) addresses of one or more wireless access points and most recently used channel identification. The almanac data can also be binned by location by the location server and a subset of the almanac data can be selected to be provided to the mobile device based on the coarse location of the mobile device and on positioning effectiveness criteria associated with the wireless access points included in the almanac data.