W3C Geolocation API - Making Websites Location-aware

W3C Geolocation API
Making Websites Location-aware

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

me
• Director of Consumer Products at Skyhook
Wireless
• Founded Locationaware.org which
eventually became W3C Geolocation API
Working Group
• Follow @rsarver to get the SlideShare link
for slides after I post them


practical tools to allow you to
add location capabilities to
your website today


What is Geolocation?

History of Geolocation on the web

Current State of the Union

Location Technologies

Code Examples

Questions


location = context


higher
context =
relevancy


higher
location =
relevancy


location comes in
many ﬂavors


37.78467, -122.40162


747 Howard St, San
Francisco, CA


4th St & Howard St


Soma


Pete’s Coffee


Business Search APIs
• Yahoo Local Search API
• Yelp API
• Localeze - sells business listing
information
• small businesses are tough, no db is
totally complete


how you display it
can be used as a way
of blurring location


Ryan checked into The
Mission


map markers can be
misleading when dealing
with user’s location

... maybe use text instead

so, why should I use it?


HISTORY
a lot has changed in a year


locationaware.org


Google Gears


W3C Geolocation API


coalition of the willing


state of the union

http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/xrrr/2478140383/

2009 is the year of
location in the
Browser


• Geode Extension in Mozilla Labs.
Powered by Skyhook
• W3C Geolocation API support
natively in 3.1 (now called 3.5)

• Opera Labs release with W3C
Geolocation API support. Powered
by Skyhook

• Support in Chrome for Windows
and Android


http://bit.ly/mozilla-geode

http://bit.ly/opera-geolocation

http://google.com/chrome

Location Technologies


Two primary methods
1. IP Geolocation
2. Triangulation
• GPS
• Wi-Fi
• Cell Tower


IP Geolocation
Pros
• Widely available
• Detection happens server-side
Cons
• Only accurate to the city-level
• Only in the right state 85% of the time
• Costly
• Produces false positives

IP Geolocation
Vendors

• MaxMind - http://www.maxmind.com
• Has a free database - GeoLite City
• Quova - http://www.quova.com
• IPligence - http://www.ipilgence.com
• IP2Location - http://www.ip2location.com


Triangulation
GPS 10 m
Wi-Fi 20 m

Cell Tower 1000 m

GPS
Pros
• Accurate after it gets a ﬁx
• Highly accurate in rural area

Cons
• Doesn’t work indoors
• Difﬁculty with Urban Canyons
• Long Time to First Fix


Wi-Fi Triangulation


Wi-Fi Positioning (WPS)
Pros
• Accurate
• Works indoors and in Urban Areas
• Quick Time to First Fix
• Software-only, leverages existing Wi-Fi

Cons
• Doesn’t work well in rural areas


• Cross-platform, cross-browser plugin for
adding geolocation to any website
• Locate a user down to their exact street
address with a few lines of javascript
• http://loki.com/how
• </plug>


Cell 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
hyrbid is the way


W3C Geolocation API

... shut up and get to the code


Single shot lookup

navigator.geolocation.getCurrentPosition(function(pos){
//show map at (pos.coords.latitude, pos.coords.longitude)
});


Position &
Coordinates Objects
interface Position {
readonly attribute Coordinates coords;
readonly attribute DOMTimeStamp timestamp;
};
interface Coordinates {
readonly attribute double latitude;
readonly attribute double longitude;
readonly attribute double altitude;
readonly attribute double accuracy;
readonly attribute double altitudeAccuracy;
readonly attribute double heading;
readonly attribute double speed;
};

Single shot lookup w/
callbacks
function showMap(pos) {
//show map at pos.coords.latitude, pos.coords.longitude
}
function showError(err) {
alert(err.message + ‘, ’ + err.code);
}
navigator.geolocation.getCurrentPosition(showMap, showError);


PositionError Object
interface PositionError {
const unsigned short UNKNOWN_ERROR = 0;
const unsigned short PERMISSION_DENIED = 1;
const unsigned short POSITION_UNAVAILABLE = 2;
const unsigned short TIMEOUT = 3;
readonly unsigned short code;
readonly DOMString message;
};


callbacks & options
}
}
navigator.geolocation.getCurrentPosition(showMap, showError,
{enableHighAccuracy:true});


PositionOptions

interface PositionOptions {
attribute boolean enableHighAccuracy;
attribute long timeout;
attribute long maximumAge;
};


cached position
}
}
navigator.geolocation.getCurrentPosition(showMap, showError,
{maximumAge:300000, timeout:0});


Periodic lookup w/
callbacks
function moveMap(pos) {
//update map to pos.coords.latitude, pos.coords.longitude
}
}

// Track location with periodic updates
watchId = navigator.geolocation.watchPosition(moveMap, showError);

function stopTracking() {
navigator.geolocation.clearWatch(watchId);
}


Upcoming Geo Events
• Where 2.0
San Jose, CA
May 19th - 21st
• WhereCamp
San Francisco, CA
May 23rd - 24th


Questions?
tweet @rsarver with questions as well


W3C Geolocation API - Making Websites Location-aware

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