We've blogged
before about how much we like location-based services and at Google we want all developers to
be able to build these cool applications. That's why we're so excited about the W3C Geolocation API, a browser API
that provides a really easy way for web applications to get the user's location.
Today we're announcing the launch of My Location on Google Maps, the first major
Google web application to make use of the Geolocation API. My Location on Google Maps offers
the same functionality you're probably familiar with from Google Maps for Mobile - simply
click a button and your location is shown on the map with a blue
dot.
Until recently, providing this
kind of functionality usually meant writing a native application, which is hard work if you
want to deploy on lots of different platforms. What's great about the Geolocation API is that
it can be used by any web application, in any web browser that supports it, in a totally
cross-platform way. Both Google Chrome and Firefox 3.5 already provide geolocation in the browser, Opera 10 will
soon add support and we're looking forward to other major browsers adding support soon. As an
interim solution, Gears also provides an equivalent Geolocation API and can be
installed on other browsers such as Internet Explorer.
We look forward to seeing lots more cool web applications make use
of the Geolocation API!
By Steve Block, Software Engineer and Jonathan McPhie, Associate
Product Manager
We've blogged
before about how much we like location-based services and at Google we want all developers to
be able to build these cool applications. That's why we're so excited about the W3C Geolocation API, a browser API
that provides a really easy way for web applications to get the user's location.