Can Google Maps figure out my current location?

My knee-jerk reaction to this question was "uh, no, how would they do that?" but upon further investigation, Google Maps can indeed figure out where you are located if you grant location information sharing in your Web browser. Not only that, but at least when I tried it, it was astonishingly accurate, nailing my location down to about 10-feet!

Turns out that location aware services have been proliferating on the Web for a while, but because it's an inexact science and because a lot of people are understandably a bit paranoid about tracking (didja know that "tracking" is the most common word associated with "cellphone" searches in Google?) I think a lot of these services are still flying under the radar.

Let me show you how it works with Apple's Safari browser, then we'll see that it's a bit different in other browsers...

That's a pretty common view from Google Maps, with the navigational control elements that show up on the left side. I've highlighted one, though, one that I bet you haven't even noticed: the small empty circle.

Click on it and, in Safari at least, a window pops up letting you know that the site is requesting location information from the browser:

To proceed, I click on "Allow" and watch as it spins for about 20 seconds or so. Then, to my amazement, it exactly nails my location at a Starbucks in Broomfield, CO:

That's it. Pretty cool, eh?

If you were to ask for your location to be mapped while in Firefox or Google Chrome, by contrast, you'll get a warning bar similar to this (from Firefox):

Okay with this? Click on "Allow". If you click on "Learn More...", by the way, you'll meet the Firefox location scout (does this have a real name? It's kinda cute):

Wondering how it actually works? According to Firefox's help FAQ, browser-based location aware browsing identification is done by the browser sending three pieces of information:

• nearby wireless access points (e.g. wifi devices),
• your computer's assigned IP address, and
• a randomly assigned system identifier which is used to keep track of you for a week or two (if you consent to use location services)

Still, you might want to disable location services once you have tried it. The technique is different in each browser (of course), but in Google Chrome, for example, go to Preferences --> Under the Hood, then click on "Content settings...". You'll see this:

Tweak and modify to your heart's content!

Tried location services and it couldn't find you? See if you can figure out a pattern (public vs. private locations, a single access point visible versus a half-dozen) and report in on this thread!