Substantially accurate estimation of coordinates of a subject network node in a coordinate space is accomplished by considering designated coordinates of other positioned nodes within the network. The designation of coordinates in the coordinate space to such nodes allows the computation of predicted coordinate distances between two network nodes based on the coordinates. By optimizing the network distance errors between measured distances and predicted coordinate distances, the predicted coordinates of a subject node joining the network can be iteratively refined. With these estimated coordinates, the coordinate distance between two points in the space may be computed as a prediction of the network distance between the two corresponding nodes. Furthermore, coordinate-based coordinate estimation lends itself to security precautions to protect against malicious reference nodes or external interference.