Safari 5 Geolocation
Posted by sebbo on 1st July 2010
I went to Google Maps today and saw something shiny and new (well, it was the first time I’ve noticed it). Safari 5 was released 3 weeks ago at WWDC 2010. Amongst other things, the new version has support for a number of HTML5 features, including Geolocation. To see it in action, head to Google Maps, click the button above the little person and you’ll be located on the map.
Scary? Well, like anything, maybe less so with a bit of understading. This is how it works. The web page sees that the browser (and the underlying OS) is ‘location-aware’ and asks for a fix. Mac OS X’s location service finds out by scanning for all wireless networks in the vicinity and takes note of their SSIDs and corresponding base station MAC addresses (your Mac must have AirPort and have it turned on). Armed with this info it queries the Skyhook online database (full explanation of how do it here). They return a latitude and longitude, along with a margin of error.
Useful? Very, on mobile devices, maybe less so on desktops. It’s early days though for this technology. Hopefully, soon, more sites will implement it, and the next time you’re searching Sainsbury’s site for their nearest branch, or asking TfL to plan your journey, you won’t need to type in your address, they’ll just know1.
-
With your permission, of course! ↩
Tags:
