Must Read: Sorry, but bringing back the Start menu won't help Windows 8

Topic: Software Development

Gears' new GeoLocation API is very slick

Summary: Dion Almaer blogged this morning about the new GeoLocation API in Gears. As a Geo-nut, I'm pretty impressed with how well it's implemented.

Ryan Stewart

By Ryan Stewart for The Universal Desktop |

GearsÂ’ new GeoLocation API is very slickDion Almaer blogged this morning about the new GeoLocation API in Gears. As a Geo-nut, I'm pretty impressed with how well it's implemented. The API is clean, and as Dion notes, with the community working on the W3C Geolocation spec, we could see a lot more geolocation on the web soon.

The mobile version appears only to work on Windows Mobile devices but the API uses a combination of GPS, cell towers, and WiFi/IP information to get a fix on where you are. It works anywhere that you've got Ajax as Dion's example shows.

The release comes as part of Gears 0.4 which in addition to the Geolocation API, also provides onprogress events for HTTP downloads and uploads and some localized dialogues. the onprogressevent will be a big deal for anyone doing large uploads in the browser.

Topics: Software Development, Browser, Hardware, Mobility

Kick off your day with ZDNet's daily email newsletter. It's the freshest tech news and opinion, served hot. Get it.

Talkback

6 comments
Log in or register to join the discussion

  • Seems like Gears is going to be a lot more than just an offline tool!!!

    This is going to be a channel to bring a lot of functionality into the browser.
    DonnieBoy
    Reply Vote

  • RE: Gears' new GeoLocation API is very slick

    Yup, exactly. They're becoming a really interesting RIA-play because it's a lot more than just offline.
    ryanstewart
    Reply Vote

    • When will they add more languages to Gears other than Java Script.

      Adding Java with a special sandbox would really make Gears a powerful RIA platform.
      DonnieBoy
      Reply Vote

  • RE: Gears' new GeoLocation API is very slick

    Ryan,

    Thanks for the note!

    A couple of points:

    a) The geo stuff actually comes in two flavours. My example uses the Ajax API version which doesn't rely on Gears at all (no plugin required). It is just a JavaScript API! It is also only ip-based location (low accuracy etc)

    b) The Geolocation API is a Gears API can be a lot more accurate as it can access GPS, Cell tower, WiFi, and ip to work out where you are.

    Hope that helps.

    Cheers,

    Dion
    dalmaer
    Reply Vote

  • RE: Gears' new GeoLocation API is very slick

    Why would it make sense to add Java? Using the Java - JavaScript bridge we can already talk between the two worlds....
    dalmaer
    Reply Vote

    • Hopefully, it is only a matter of time. They need to get buy in from SUN

      and deal with any licensing issues. They also need to do special sandboxing. for this. But, until we have Java, the applications will be limited. For instance, there is no way you could import a Word doc into Google Docs offline. Heck, right now you can not even create a new document, only edit and look at existing documents.
      DonnieBoy
      Reply Vote
CNET Join | Log In | Privacy | Cookies Close