Google’s updates surrounding location are now coming fast and furious. Just a few days ago it added location to Google Maps for the Chrome and Firefox browsers. Today, it brings location to the mobile web on the iPhone.
If you have the new iPhone 3.0 software and go to Google’s homepage in Safari, you’ll notice a new message below the search box that reads, “New! Try My Location to find restaurants, shops and bars near you!” If you click on the My Location link, the iPhone will pop open a dialogue asking if it’s okay for Safari to use the device’s location services to locate you. If you opt-in, you’ll see a new blue dot below the search box with your location next to it. Do a search, and it will return local results.
The fact that mobile Safari can access location is a huge feature. It’s what’s going to allow Google Latitude, Google’s location-based social network, to work on the device without a native app, as we described a few months ago. Something else that is potentially interesting about this is that Safari, like some of the other native iPhone apps, can apparently run in the background. Now, I’m not sure if it can still access location services while it’s running in the background, but that could be very interesting for something like Latitude.
And accessing functionality like location in the browser seems to tie in well with Google’s ultimate goal of having the web be the platform of choice.
For many people, such a feature will bring up privacy concerns. Here’s what Google has to say about that:
As always, your privacy is one of our top concerns. Google won’t use your location in search unless you explicitly opt in. And you can always disable the feature from Preferences at the bottom of the homepage.
Not sure why Google didn’t mention this in their blog post, but this feature has been on Google Mobile for Android phones for months now.
i love it how people that have an android phone love to say “but this has been on android for a while”
Yeah… just like how iPhone people say about their stuffs too. It’s alll about the motivating the tribe to be fanatic about their products. Good marketing
His response suggests an enthusiasm to share a statistical fact the original poster was not aware of. Your response suggests insecurity about the service of your phone and jealously over a response that added to your insecurity. As for anyone that is not emotionally attached to their phone unlike yourself, his response will appear normal. Oh, and not to leave out what my response suggests, I was exited to embarrass and humiliate you by showing off the knowledge my doctrine in psychology has given me only because you deserved it.
Search with “My Location” appears to conflict with the “MyLocator” Trademark.
Your post appears to conflict with common sense. Please kill yourself as a remedy.
Certainly Latitude will be coming to the iPhone very soon, then.
Yes, I think so.
That’s bullshit. Google blowing Apple is starting to piss me off.
I recently had a bad experience wiht Google Local Search. Last friday my friend had an acute medical condition (kidney stones) and I had to search for hospitals near Union square in New York. and it showed all junk.. Beth Israel didn’t even show up.
AroundMe also sucked (since I was uptown and there was no way to find hospitals near east village)
Any entrepreneur want to create some app or service for finding hospitals?
bing?
im being serious,
http://m.bing.c...mp;P=qsrrq8v026
the mobile version of our location-based website http://askaround.me has done this even before OS 3 was released. Take THAT, Google!
Well, it looks awful.
Is it a good thing? You spent time and money to implement something that is now part of all major browsers.. I made my website location aware in about 10 minutes during my lunchbreak
it’s only browser geolocation. plus, it’s a toy project
Google is taking over the world!
Call me!
805-768-4521 http://bit.ly/oBsDJ
I keep loving this location stuff more and more, yet I also get worried about the privacy aspect of it.
Interesting to note why google is so into location service off late… being browser based bring a direct threat to Loopt and related services.
Wonderful idea, Google and iPhone work together? this is will be super gadget
Nice! I switch back and forth between my Android and iPhone. This is one feature I’ve come to love on the Android but was missing on the iPhone.
Bring on the push apps (gmail, gtalk) and I’ll be even happier!
I thought this was cool until I couldn’t come with any searches for it. If I’m searching for something close by, I just go into Maps and search there.
What are some examples of a web search that would benefit from location on the Google web site instead of just using Maps (which has been there since the iPhone was released)?
Unfortunately this location integration doesn’t seem have been rolled into production on their new iGoogle page for iPhone and Android.
Are there really still that many folks who use the plain vanilla google mobile page rather than the igoogle mobile page?
Location in the browser is available for all publishers on webkit browsers, you don’t have to be google to make it work. It’s also a feature that can be enabled for ad units. If you’d like to see a demo let me know – tweet @toms or tom [at] crispwireless [dot] com
meanwhile, there’s tweets from the future with the new googleiPhone: http://twitter....m/futuretweeter
Wait… so has this been a feature of Safari since the 3.0 update?
Can other sites use this? I’m going to look this up because it could be very cool for my site that I’m working on!
Ah.. the answers to my questions are yes!
Here is a quick tutorial, it looks very easy!
http://fvistico...ri-browser.html
When I go into google.com with my 3.0 iphone I get nothing
Wait nevermind, there was a setting set to OFF on my account preference (was that the default setting?)
funny to see how apps always seems to move from client to the cloud.. why iphone apps when you can access the hardware via the browser? add to that powerful UIs and the apps become hard to justify.
that beats me, too. why make an iphone version of a website when you can have a web version for godssakes. safari is by far the app that i use the most on the iphone.
it’s sad tho that apple has banned projects that bring phone’s functionality to web apps like phonegap
They banned phonegap???
phonegap apps are now rejected http://groups.g...5119a36f478619a
hey guys, phonegap apps can be rejected just like regular apps: Apple had some misconceptions about the phonegap platform but we’ve sorted that out.
Without Google in my life I would be a shadow of the person I am today, now they just need to introduce Google vouchers for these restaurants, shops and bars
While it did find my location correctly as Decatur, Georgia all of the “local” search results for pizza are for Decatur, Alabama.
I’m wondering how Apple will deal with Latitude on iPhone when it will essentially negate the need to pay $99 per year on MobileMe for the “Find my iPhone” function?
The FindmyiPhone is causing a lot of people to pay for MobileMe just for this feature.
Find my iPhone works without an app having to run. If you lost your iPhone, you won’t exactly be able to open Safari and browse to Google…
blackberry, android, nokia WRT and some windows mobile can do location based web sites as well, just nobody is using those features.
there is a library that handles all of them via a simple interface(incl iphone of course):
http://code.goo...ion-javascript/
This only works on Google.com (as fasr as i can see) not on the localised versions of Google (google.co.in for example).
I hope they do release this worldwide..
How well will latitude work on a phone OS that prevents multitasking? Would my friends have to text/call me first so I would know to start up the app so they could find me on a map?