ºÝºÝߣs from Where 2.0 2009 Workshop - Location on the Web
Location aware websites, applications and devices can provide users with rich social connectivity, useful content, efficient movement around their environment, highly targeted advertising, and more. We will discuss the new W3C Geolocation API, location-aware browsers and other available tools that can add location to websites and applications.
While most devices now have functionality which make location determination possible, understanding these technologies and how they can be deployed into mobile devices and websites can be complicated.
In this session, we will discuss the technical details of the APIs available to help location-enable your websites, and how to deploy them. These tools include the W3C Geolocation API, Mozilla¡¯s Geode, the Loki Plugin, Fire Eagle and Google¡¯s My Location.
15. Three primary methods
1. IP Geolocation
2. Triangulation
? GPS
? Wi-Fi
? Cell Tower
3. Declarative - just ask
16. 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
17. 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
18. 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
27. state of the union
http://www.?ickr.com/photos/xrrr/2478140383/
28. ? W3C Geolocation API support
natively in Firefox 3.5
? Opera Labs release with W3C
Geolocation API support
? Support in Chrome for Windows
and Gears - desktop / Android
29. ? 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>
30. Tips for browser-
based Geolocation
? Plan for asynchronous call - show status
to user
? Request location on page load if its
available
? Fallback to IP if necessary, but message
it to user
38. ? Location broker
? Ecosystem
? APIs for updating and querying (REST and
XMPP)
? http://?reeagle.yahoo.net/developer
? </plug>
39. Tips for broker-based
Geolocation
? Location is barely current--?nd ways to
reduce latency
? Share--back to Fire Eagle and with other
users
? Don¡¯t violate users¡¯ trust--say what you
use their location for
- who here runs a website?
- who here uses location of some kind on their website?
- mobile?
- location is a proxy to lots of metadata - rich demographic data
- context about the physical surroundings of the user
- events they might be at
- nearby POIs
- time of day, weather
- the more context you have the more relevant the experience you can delivery
- deliver the most highly relevant experience to your users
- use most accurate location available
(seth)
There’s no single right answer.
(seth)
Are Ryan and I in the same place? Yes and no.
The definition of a place is highly relative. Place names as well.
(seth)
Where on Earth ids are one solution.
(seth)
GeoPlanet is Yahoo!’s answer to the “what constitutes a place” problem. Places are referred to with unique identifiers and related to one another. It’s just one approach, but it helps.
(seth)
Complementary approaches, complementary tools.
Sensed location is device-centric, declared location requires the user’s input.
Active location is a means for determining where a user is when s/he is in front of a computer.
Passive location is a means for determining where a user is when s/he is away from a computer, but has a device that can sense location with them (e.g. SPOT, cell phone).
Sensed location is the more obvious approach, and potentially most useful, as it involves less user intervention. However, it is not without problems: sensed locations may be wrong, and, as location is a socially relative construct, may disrupt or offend the user. (e.g. neighborhood boundaries)
- relevancy. too much noise, not enough signal
- location is a piece of metadata that can make the entire web more relevant
- better user experience
- geotag photos, share location on social networks, local search, local news
- Lets take a store finder as an example
- each dot represents a Dunkin Donuts in Boston
- if you ask a user to tell you where they are, they will say “boston” or “02218”
- using precise location allows you to instantly show them the correct location and start to route them there
- seth
1. privacy
2. precision
(seth)
A user’s location is a facet of their identity; they are sharing it with you (or allowing you to sense it) in exchange for something of value. They trust you. It’s your responsibility to respect your users by not sharing it out, or being explicit about what you intend to do with it once it passes into our hands.
(seth)
Precision is one way to protect a user’s location; just request the level of granularity that your application requires rather than always asking for a user’s exact location. You probably don’t need it, and it will give your users a greater sense of safety when using your application.
- June 2008
- standardize the way geolocation is exposed through the browser
- all major vendors are involved
- already getting to draft
- KISS
“its all coming together”
- instead of waiting for all the browsers, add it now
- cross platform, cross browser
- on MapQuest.com/findme
(ryan)
- Here is a video of BrightKite using auto-location
- gives you a feel for how other sites are doing it
(seth)
- imagine brightkite updating while you’re out in the world and sharing it with friends who are online; a single application can take advantage of both active and passive location
Fire Eagle is a location broker; alone it does nothing. It is part of a rich ecosystem where applications with access to users’ location can allow them to share it with applications that would like access to location data. Privacy is core: users have control over what applications can do what with their location (and what level they’re allowed to see).
- if you are looking to get more involved in geo, there are some great events to attend