Although it isn't very clear on the main list of new features, thanks to Mapperz for the heads-up that today's release of Firefox v3.5 includes a new geo-location feature.

This is an optional new feature that lets a website query the browser's geographic location. The user has to explicitly confirm that this it is okay to share the information. Location information is currently derived from wireless hotspot information and ISP location information. In a test this morning, this produced a 22km error circle for my location, but managed to find the correct half of Irving, Texas - if not quite the correct zipcode.

Here is a screenshot of the 3Liz Geolocation demonstration:

You can try the demonstration yourself at http://3liz.org/geolocation/.

A natural extension of this feature would be the ability to read GPS coordinates. This would be useful for mobile laptops, but would really come into its own for Netbooks and Smartphones. At the moment this would require some user configuration, but could be simplified if the industry were to adopt a new GPS standard for the 21st century (ie. one that referenced modern interface systems and not RS232/serial interfaces!).

Further information on the Firefox GeoLocation features can be found here:

http://en-gb.www.mozilla.com/en-GB/firefox/geolocation/

Comments (6)

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How-to article will be published in early July
written by Richard Marsden, June 30, 2009

This feature is covered by a W3C standard, and we shall be publishing a how-to article next week showing you how to implement this feature on your website.

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Using geolocation
written by ReLuc, June 30, 2009

You can find code samples here on developer.mozilla.org :
https://developer.mozilla.org/En/Using_geolocation

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Thanks for the link
written by Richard Marsden, June 30, 2009

Thanks for the link - it should be useful for our readers. The planned article will implement geo-location in an existing site, but I'll reference the Mozilla pages and W3C spec.

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Geolocation API article published
written by Richard Marsden, July 07, 2009

The Geolocation API how-to article was published yesterday:

http://www.geowebguru.com/arti...cation-api

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HTML 5 Geolocation Demo
written by Alex, July 13, 2009

Another good Geolocation API example webapge: http://www.browsergeolocation.com

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Wireless Geolocation (HTML 5 Geolocation API) vs. IP Geolocation
written by IP2Location.com, December 11, 2009

This articles highlights the capabilities and constraints of this new JavaScript API which is based on wireless geolocation and compare it with the server-side IP geolocation:
http://www.ip2location.com/html5geolocationapi.aspx

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