Comments on: Geolocation goodness

By: sheppy

sheppy — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 19:03:37 +0000

I need to clarify — I was wrong; there are no built-in data providers for geolocation information, and Skyhook support is not planned.

By: sheppy

sheppy — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 14:57:26 +0000

I’ve updated the documentation with information about requesting permission and about the Skyhook database being the default information source.

By: sheppy

sheppy — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 14:55:21 +0000

Chris — you’re right, IMHO it should be “speed” rather than “velocity.” I’ll suggest that.

Jason — The user is asked for permission before revealing location information. Currently, Firefox uses Skyhook’s database (the same one used by the iPod touch and iPhone, for example). It is/will be possible to develop additional data providers for location information, and I’m sure Fennec will offer GPS support for example.

By: jason

jason — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 13:42:16 +0000

What geolocation data is being used here? Is this allowing sites to view my current location? Questions: (1) How many computers today actually have geolocation hardware so that they will know where the computer is? and (2) How can I restrict this information? I don’t want random sites to know exactly where I am in the world…

By: Chris

Chris — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 11:53:44 +0000

Great article, but I noticed a mistake.

In the example for “Watching the current position”, you use the function getCurrentPosition, instead of watchPosition. Also it would be great to have some more information about how frequently the position is updated.

Also for position.velocity, in which direction is it calculated (latitude, longitude, altitude)? If it’s directionless then surely it’s better renamed to speed, not velocity – see Wikipedia for the distinction.

By: Henrik Gemal

Henrik Gemal — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 08:34:15 +0000

I’ve added Geolocation support to BrowserSpy.dk. It’s online at http://browserspy.dk/geolocation.php
Perhaps you could add the link to the article?