Geolocation: How it works in Vivaldi
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Geolocation is a useful thing when you want a website to provide you with a local map, or suggest a nearby restaurant or hotel. How does it work in your desktop browser and what are the privacy implications?
Click here to see the full blog post
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@gwen-dragon: Read the last paragraph and see how you can improve things for yourself and other users.
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@ruario At least for GPS it is fixable by the Manual Geolocation Extension in the Chrome web store
which has the nice side effect that atm my GPS location is reported as
38.870742 latitude
-77.0557727 longitude
100m accuracy
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@quhno Drones deployed ^^
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@quhno: That is a fun extension and particularly useful if you want to lie about your location. Yes you can also use it to place you accurately if you manually position it over your current location but if you actually want accurate, updated data from MLS. Then installing Mozilla Stumbler app in your phone is the way to go
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@quhno: Also, nice location you selected there!
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@gwen-dragon: The questions about why users see a different response in different browsers is what prompted my original twitter thread (on which this blog is based), in the first place.
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i'd like to see an option to switch to google location services anyway
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@jacekn: MLS is improving. Personally, I would again encourage users to contribute to a more open service like this, rather than handing over ever more data to Google.
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@quhno: Nice ! Didn't know about that !
I'll try to put my position in the ISS ! (https://xkcd.com/713/) -
@cqoicebordel: I finally choose 27.988186621074206,86.9249439239502. An altitude of 8810m is still nice
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And how about desktop computers – yes, they still exist – without WiFi and Bluetooth?
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It's good to see Vivaldi integrating MLS.
I just wish there was a way to set Android to do this, but I don't see Google giving up that particular stranglehold any time soon.
In fact it would be nice if any system allowed you to pick which location service provider you wanted to use.
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I see it on Google Maps through out the day, in the morning the location I start at is on one side of town, and later in the afternoon it is in another spot. I will sometimes check on other map sites (Yahoo uses Microsoft's bing maps for the map data) Whether on a mobile device or on a desktop one I always ask myself does a site or app really need my location to work.
In Windows 10 there is an option that the user can have the OS mask the MAC Address one time or have it change daily or not to mask it (that is a per SSID setting). I also sometimes will see different starting locations on maps. I know that Google has slitty different code for different browsers (I try masking from time to time to see what I get or work around browser sniffing). I have tried "Cookie Monster" as a ua string a few times (that ua string sends the user to Google Maps Lite mode (they do no feature detection), Microsoft's bing just flat out blocks that ua string (the message does not list Vivaldi on the short list of supported browsers).How many different location APIs are there now? I kinda remember a battle a year or so ago about what browser implemented what API or if they were using the one that came with the OS.
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@mscha said in Geolocation: How it works in Vivaldi:
And how about desktop computers – yes, they still exist – without WiFi and Bluetooth?
I’m presuming the device also doesn’t have a 2G/3G/4G mobile data connection? and no global navigation satellite system chip? Then it falls back to lookups based on IP addresses. IP lookups can usually pinpoint you to a city level, depending on the infrastructure of your ISP.
@lonm said in Geolocation: How it works in Vivaldi:
I just wish there was a way to set Android to do this, but I don't see Google giving up that particular stranglehold any time soon.
You can use MLS on a rooted phone by installing MLS as a location service provider. Google Location Services is implemented in the same way, but third-parties like MLS can’t request the permissions needed to provide the service on a non-rooted device.
@lonm said in Geolocation: How it works in Vivaldi:
In fact it would be nice if any system allowed you to pick which location service provider you wanted to use.
Consumer choice!? How quaint.
@chas4 said in Geolocation: How it works in Vivaldi:
How many different location APIs are there now?
You’ll see Apple, Microsoft, Mozilla, and Google in consumer devices. There are a lot more available for enterprise use-cases, however. You’ll find Mozilla in Firefox, Vivaldi, GNOME, and KDE.
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Ukrainian translation https://kurai.vivaldi.net/?p=707
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@mscha: Exactly! I was beginning to wonder if maybe i was the last Tower user left standing [sitting, actually, atm], ha.
Anyway, it's all irrelevant to me; i read all this stuff with much bemusement. Geolocation will always remain with its default of Disabled / Blocked, on all my devices.
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@steffie said in Geolocation: How it works in Vivaldi:
I was beginning to wonder if maybe i was the last Tower user left standing...
I'm awash in towers. Want some?
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@lonm There are several open source alternatives https://staging.f-droid.org/search?q=backend
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How do we completely disable this functionality in Vivaldi? I have no use for this.