How does Google My Location work?

How does Google My Location work? Google My Location in Google Maps is able to find your approximate position with good accuracy. Although it's clear that it makes use of GeoIP mapping, they need a more accurate strategy to pinpoint your location.
Asked by: Guest \| Views: 209

Total answers/comments: 2

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bert [Entry]

"It's mostly up to the browser to implement. One example, which is used on the iPhone & iPod touch to help determine location, is SkyHook Wireless.

From the Maps help page:

The feature is available in browsers that support the new Geolocation feature. This feature may be built in to the browser itself, or can be provided by the Gears browser extension. Currently supported browsers include Google Chrome 2.0+ (using Gears), Mozilla FireFox 3.5+ or any browser with the latest version of Gears installed.

The geolocation feature, if built in to the browser, is accessed via Javascript with navigator.geolocation:

navigator.geolocation.getCurrentPosition(function(pos) {
// Do something with position
});

More usage info is at the Mozilla Developer Center."

bert [Entry]

"I found this article where a product manager of Google spoke about the My Location service.

He said your location is identified by using nearby cell towers."