A system and method for determining a position of a mobile wireless device using wireless local area network access points (APs). In one embodiment, a mobile wireless device includes an AP positioning system configured to estimate a position of the device based on locations of APs disposed about the device. The AP positioning system is configured to: 1) access an AP database; and 2) provide, to the database, one or more medium access controller (MAC) addresses and an area of interest value. The AP positioning system is also configured to retrieve, from the database: 1) location information for each AP having a provided MAC address, or located within the area of interest; and 2) at least one of: signal parameters for the APs nearby the device, a geographic area within which each MAC address can be received, and an indication of a scan type to used for identifying APs.