The geolocation APIs

A geolocation API is a high-level interface used to locate information. It lets you find out where the user is and keep a track of his/her location when he/she moves. The geolocation API is device-agnostic of the underlying location source and doesn't care how the web browser determines the location. The following are the common sources for the location:

• GPS
• The network IP address
• RFID
• Wi-Fi
• The Bluetooth MAC address
• The GSM/CDMA cell ID
• User inputs

The API represents location by latitude and longitude coordinates.

Note

The geolocation APIs do not guarantee returning the actual location of the device.

The geolocation API has the following classes:

• Geolocation: This class is used to determine the location information associated with the hosting device
• Geoposition: This class is used to store the coordinates and timestamp
• Coordinates: This class is used to store the location information and speed of the device

Determining the current location

Let's see how we can use the geolocation...