What's the most accurate way to determine user geolocation in the browser?

Posted by Crashalot on Stack Overflow See other posts from Stack Overflow or by Crashalot
Published on 2010-03-12T23:11:01Z Indexed on 2010/03/12 23:17 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 408

Filed under:

geolocation

|

location

|

geoip

I found a few examples suggesting Google AJAX APIs.

This link typifies the advice I have found so far: http://briancray.com/2009/05/29/find-web-visitors-location-javascript-google-api/

However, the location is often wrong with the Google APIs.

Other sites seem to know exactly which city I'm in, though, without me entering any information.

Suggestions? Is there something cross-browser (ignoring IE6) and reliable?

© Stack Overflow or respective owner

Related posts about geolocation

Which Devices Support Javascript Geolocation via navigator.geolocation ?

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
The iPhone supports geolocation in mobile Safari via the following call: navigator.geolocation.getCurrentPosition( function(pos){ var lat = pos.coords.latitude; var long = pos.coords.longitude; }, function(){ /* Handler if location could not be found */ } ); I'd like to build… >>> More
iPhone - Native App GeoLocation VS Web App GeoLocation

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Here's my situation; I've built a very simple web app that looks up a users location and plots it on a Google map. Here's my code: http://pastebin.com/d3a185efd When I test it, my location is detected as being = 500 meters from where I actually stand. BUT When I open up Google Maps or Gowalla… >>> More
user disallowed geolocation - notify user second time

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
When trying to get geolocation on iPhone the first time - I declined. Every other time I want to get the location (before another reload of the page) I get no response (no error and no success): navigator.geolocation.getCurrentPosition( function (location) { ig_location.lat = location… >>> More
How to get my geolocation in bash

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
I am looking for a good geolocation api to use from bash. I want this call to return at the very minimum the name of the city I am in, and the state. I imagine that there must be some site I can curl, or some scripting language that has a package that works. The machine does not have a GPS, but it… >>> More
Geolocation Firefox accurate than iPhone Safari?

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
I just tested Geolocation on Firefox 3.6 and iPhone Safari (os 3.1.3), the result is interesting, firefox is more accurate than safari. any one got idea how to make iPhone Safari result more accurate. this is the code for testing: navigator.geolocation.getCurrentPosition(handler, {enableHighAccuracy:… >>> More

Related posts about location

3 Key Trends For Mobile Commerce – Location, Location, Location

as seen on Oracle Blogs - Search for 'Oracle Blogs'
This past weekend I was at a major bookstore chain and looking for a particular book. Rather than ask the clerk, I went to my smartphone and went online to find the book title, author, and competing price. I know I’m not alone in this effort and more and more individuals (and businesses)… >>> More
3 Key Trends For Mobile Commerce – Location, Location, Location

as seen on Oracle Blogs - Search for 'Oracle Blogs'
This past weekend I was at a major bookstore chain and looking for a particular book. Rather than ask the clerk, I went to my smartphone and went online to find the book title, author, and competing price. I know I’m not alone in this effort and more and more individuals (and businesses)… >>> More
Difference between window.location.href=window.location.href and window.location.reload()

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
What is the difference between window.location.href=window.location.href and window.location.reload() in JavaScript? >>> More
Basic Spatial Data with SQL Server and Entity Framework 5.0

as seen on West-Wind - Search for 'West-Wind'
In my most recent project we needed to do a bit of geo-spatial referencing. While spatial features have been in SQL Server for a while using those features inside of .NET applications hasn't been as straight forward as could be, because .NET natively doesn't support spatial types. There are workarounds… >>> More
Core Location - fallback, location caching and alternatives...

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
I have a few questions about Core Location. 1) Should the user refuse permission for my app to use core location, or core location is unavailable for some reason, is there a fallback? (Device Locale, for example?) 2)Can I cache a device's location for next time? Does Core Location do this itself… >>> More