Mr. Sarver runs us through the new geolocation api available to web developers now from some browsers and how we got there, as well as the specifications of this awesome new handle available to web developers.
Begin Notes:
W3C Geolocation API
making websites location aware.
State of the internet with geolocation
R Sarver - dir of consumer products at skyhook wireless
founded locationaware.org which became w3c geolocation api working group
follow @rsaver to get slideshare link
- practical tools to allow you to add location capabilities to your website today.
Sylibus
- what is geo loc
= history
- current state of browsers
- location technologies
- code examples
location = context
if I know where a person is at what time, I have a LOT of data about that user. The more you know about that user, the more relevant experience you can deliver to them.
location can be polygons, not just a point
address
intersection
neighborhood
business listing
localeze - sells business listing information
small businesses are tough, no db is totally complete.
brightkite.com
Why use geolocation API?
in 2006 skyhook launched a product called loki - firefox toolbar. provided gps information for user's location. api was available for websites to use to see if the geolocation was there.
locationaware.org was made to get geolocation information off of devices that didn't have gps location information. goal was to get browsers to provide geolocation information of the user. WiFi positioning.
In 2008 google gears added geolocation api into their existing apis.
In June of 2008 the W3C made efforts to standardize geolocation api. Goal being to create a simple standard api that all browsers use and let websites get that data using standard javascript calls. Browsers bought in: Google, mozilla, ms, opera, apple.
"2009 is the year of the location in the browser".
currrent browsers that support it Opera, mozilla, chrome (windows and android).
mozila: bit.ly/mozilla-geode /opera-geolocation
2 primary methods to geocode:
IP geolocation
and Trangulation using gps, wifi and cell towers
IP geolocations -
pros: everyone has an ip, and detection happens serverside
Cons: only city level accurate AT BEST, only in the right state 85% of the time, costly, produces false positives
Vendors: maxmind has a free database
quova
ipligence
ip2location
Triangulation
GPS - up to 10 meters
Wi-Fi - up to 20-80 meters
Cell Tower - 1000-1200 meters (up to 600 meters in densely populated areas)
GPS Pros:
accurate fix, highly accurate in rural areas
Cons: doesn't work indoors
difficulty with urban canyons
long time to first fix (30 seconds minimum)
WiFi Triangulation
Pros: accurate (street level)
works indoors and in urban areas
quick time fix
software only (leverages existing WiFi)
Cons
Doesn't work in rural areas
Loki corss-platform cross browser plugin for adding geolocation to any website
Cell tower Triangulation
Pros: works where there is cell coverage (most areas)
quick time to first fix
software only, leverages existing cellular radio
Cons:
very inaccurate
Short Answer - hybrid is the way leveraging all available existing geolocation technologies available to device/user/etc...
W3C Geolocation API
currently working on html5 specification
code example:
navigator.geolocation.getCurrentPotision(function(pos){ show map at (pos.coords.latitude, pos.coords.longitude})
latitude and longitude and accuracy is the only required pieces of data to provide on a request for W3C. Altitude, altitude accuracy, heading, speed are all optional.
heading - degrees from north.
there's a positionerror object that gives codes that mean things like not available, permission denied, etc...
