After hinting that it would do so last June, Google’s mobile team has released a Geolocation API for Google Gears. This works both on mobile phones and laptops running Gears, but developers will find it most useful for mobile applications. Unfortunately, they will be limited in that regard because Google Gears Mobile still only works on Windows Mobile phones, even though an Android phone is about to launch. (Maybe now that a new Android SDK is out, the mobile team can finally figure out how to make Gears work on Android too).
Google figured out how to find a mobile phone’s location for its own mobile apps, such as Google Maps, and is now opening that technology up as an API to outside developers. Two UK-based mobile startups—Rummble and lastminute— have already built the API into their services. The Google Mobile blog explains:
These two apps make use of the Gears Geolocation API. The API can determine your location using nearby cell-towers or GPS for your mobile device or your computer’s IP address for your laptop. Google provides this service for free to both developers and users.
Gears is available on IE Mobile on mobile and Internet Explorer and Firefox on desktop. To use the location-enabled lastminute.com and Rummble web apps you will need a Windows Mobile device that supports GPS or cell-id lookup (for example the Samsung Blackjack II and HTC Touch Dual, see supported devices FAQ). We are working hard to bring Gears to more mobile platforms, such as Android and others.
There is also more detailed information on the API on the Google Code blog.
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Excellent maybe this will work as cheap GPS data logger for my aircraft just using a cell phone.
http://www.FliteRecord.com
Lastminute.com isn’t a “mobile startup”, it’s an established leisure and travel retail website.
> Maybe now that a new Android SDK is out, the mobile team can finally figure out how to make Gears work on Android too
The built-in browser in the latest Android SDK appears to have a configuration panel for Google Gears. Try Menu->More->Settings->Enable Gears.
Now, I want access to the addressbook too.
Navizon has been offering such an API for a while and is available on many more devices (Blackberry, S60, Nokia, Java). And they can include Wifi positioning which is definitely a plus.
http://www.navizon.com
We’ve had the capability for over a year now. Any app can access any native device information and send that to a Web server. We also have the capability to allow JavaScript to access local API’s from the browser under Windows Mobile without the need for Google’s API.
More information and demonstrations can be found on our web site at http://www.5o9inc.com and http://www.5o9mm.com
Cheers,
Peter
cool, interesting post
my blog is about #1 blogging advice. check it out if you’d like
http://www.TheBusinessOfMyBusiness.blogspot.com
LastMinute.com has been around for 10 years, been bought and sold more times than I’ve changed jobs and is in no way a “mobile startup”. Did you do any research for this article or did you just make it up from a press summary? If this simple point is wrong how are we supposed to trust anything on TC?
Erick Schonfeld - with all the incessant whining from Arrington about getting the small things right on the iPhone, problems with MobileMe et al, don’t you think you should take his advice and RESEARCH before you write?
OK, you’ve probably never heard of lastminute.com, but then they’ve probably never heard of you, in which case, should they presume (as you have) that you are embryonic or foetal?
Get your act together!
Good news about geo-location however
This is encouraging. With each story like this we move towards enabling the social tool of choice (mobile phone) with the tools to carry out certain “social” activities whilst out and about.
The power of knowing who is around you (opt in of course), whether you are a business or a personal user is incredibly powerful.
One step nearer.
Mike Ashworth
Marketing Coach and Consultant
Brighton and Hove, Sussex, UK
Title Correction; “Google’s answer to FireEgale”
Hi Erick; thanks for mentioning Gears. I work for Google. The Gears Geolocation API supports desktops as well; for example, once you’ve installed Gears navigate to the page http://uploadmovietool.appspot.com which will find your location on a desktop using Wifi tricks. The Geolocation API works on Windows Mobile, Linux (Firefox), Mac OS X (Firefox), and Windows (Internet Explorer/Firefox). Safari support is being developed.
Best,
Brad Neuberg
Google
so good apps. do Gears Geolocation API compatible with iphone or blackberry? if it can be used, it will boost it users.
Hello,
if you like to see how the new Google Gears Geolocation API within a mobile service I would appreciate f you take a look at ttklf4. I have also implemented the new ClientLocation of the Google AJAX API which uses the IP address if you are connected over Wi-Fi. The AJAX API is also available for iPhone.
Someone already created a position logger application for Windows Mobile:
http://www.petervrenken.nl/utrack
It says it should work without GPS hardware and solely use Google Gears.
At the beginning, Google Geolocation API has determined the location for only Americans, for the other it has returned “unknown”. Later this service was advanced, but it often does not show results even for developed countries as yet. For such cases, there is a simple javascript extension to the Google API, which gives back the country of user.
http://www.wipmania.com/en/blo.....ation-api/