I think you have that backwards.So far as I have read, the drone knows where its RC is located in distance and direction. [...]
The app displays the distance and direction of the drone relative to its currently recorded Home Position, because the app calculates that by comparing the known GPS location of the drone to the recorded GPS coordinates of the Home Position.
That Home position does not necessarily always coincide with the location of the controller.
The app's map display and RID will also show the position of the controller's location, but only if that controller is GPS enabled.
That's the problem with the Avata. Its controller has no GPS functionality, so must have a GPS enabled cellphone connected to comply with RID identification of the pilot (controller) location.