Safari Browser 3.0 for iPhone is GPS-aware
One of the relatively unsung features of the upcoming iPhone 3.0 firmware is that the new version of Safari for iPhone will use geolocation. This means that the browser can request location information from the iPhone's GPS receiver, and can also provide that location information to websites that you're visiting.ComputerWorld's Seth Weintraub reports that the beta versions of the firmware are working well with sample web-aware websites. This capability is not only planned for the iPhone's implementation of Safari, but many upcoming browsers for Mac as well.
Geolocation capabilities make it simple for developers to create web apps that no longer need to ask you for an address or zip code. Google, for instance, is planning on making their Latitude application a 3.0-only web app rather than a standalone application on the iPhone. Latitude will leverage the geolocation features of Safari by knowing exactly where you are at a particular point in time and sending that info to the Latitude servers, then returning the whereabouts of your friends while informing them where you are.
For those of you who don't want your 3.0-enabled iPhone to let the world know exactly where you are, remember that you can always turn off Location Services in the General Settings or just answer "Don't Allow" when asked if Safari or a particular website would like to use your current location.
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
dagamer43 said 11:26AM on 6-01-2009
I tested it out and it works pretty well. Even on the iPod Touch, WiFi positioning is generally pretty accurate.
Reply
emil said 11:36AM on 6-01-2009
That's gotta be one of the lamest article images I've seen on TUAW in a while. :-P
Reply
Macroy said 11:42AM on 6-01-2009
shhh! not in front of the website! it KNOWS things.
Jamus said 12:07PM on 6-01-2009
One side of me likes the idea of the auto-location features, but the Dale Gribble side of me is scrambling for tin foil...
Reply
Ryan said 12:24PM on 6-01-2009
This is actually from the HTML5 spec, not really iPhone/Safari specific. I'll bet Safari 4 does it soon (now?) also.
http://dev.w3.org/geo/api/spec-source.html
Reply
Lee said 1:10PM on 6-01-2009
I built a couple simply client-side web apps this weekend after seeing Google I/O (and hearing location support was in iPhone 3.0), and after it worked, I started trying it in other browsers.
Safari 4 doesn't yet support it. The apps did nothing until I installed Google Gears (which I have my apps fallback to).
The latest beta versions of Firefox, however, do include the support built-in.
Josh said 1:58PM on 6-01-2009
"sample web-aware websites"
??
Reply
brian said 2:16PM on 6-01-2009
CAN'T WAIT for this since I want to write some basic but location-dependent web services and haven't had the time to learn OBJ-C. And yes, this is part of HTML5, not specific (in theory) to the iPhone, so hopefully it'll work on the Pre, Android, and whatever else comes along. More info here:
http://browsersphere.com/tag/w3c/
Reply
Oliver Bouchard said 2:26PM on 6-01-2009
Now that more and more functionality is accessible from the browser it just would be nice if webapps would behave a little bit more like first class applications and for example not constantly reload after they are re-opened in the browser.
Reply
Sean Flanagan said 3:31PM on 6-01-2009
Looks like you spelled "haaaaa" wrong. Typical of this crappy blog. Why do I even bother coming here anymore?
/s
Reply
Steven Sande said 3:34PM on 6-01-2009
Because you really, really love us and enjoy leaving comments to show how much you care.
TUAWSteve
Sean Flanagan said 3:55PM on 6-01-2009
Hey wait, that's what you say to people who *actually* complain!
Dave said 5:53PM on 6-01-2009
Sean,
A more effective way of complaining would be to send a private e-mail to the TUAW staff providing detailed and constructive feedback.
Of course, you're welcome to complain using the comment system (I've done both--through e-mail and in comments), but if you do, you can expect sarcastic replies.
Palms831 said 3:30PM on 6-01-2009
Oh great. Just what the world needs, more web apps.
And what in the world is "web 3.0"?
Reply
Don't_track_me_bro!!! said 2:36AM on 6-02-2009
The way it is shut off kind of works. Probably would be better if you could go into Safari preferences and shut it off without the popup.
Reply
crs_web said 3:38PM on 7-08-2009
I found great useful site for iPhone. I recommend you guys to bookmark this site on iPhone Safari.
GPS Map search site [USEFUL!] 'Find Yammmmy! GPS'
http://crsdsgn.com/gps/
Reply
Larry said 8:37PM on 8-09-2009
Sorry,.. I don't find anything interesting with yammmmy gps,... Just have a series of links like "http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Humberger"
can replace it with anything (q=garage)