Hey Dave! I understand that my phone knows my location through triangulating cell towers, but how does my PC laptop know my location in Maps? It’s kind of freaking me out!
I can completely understand your puzzlement about how a computer can know your location with such accuracy given that it’s just connected to a wifi network. There are two dimensions to this question, however, because there’s how it works and there’s what permissions you allow programs given that your PC can figure out your location (in most instances). Most obviously, if your computer has built-in cellular connectivity (for example, a Windows tablet with 5G) then it can use exactly the same technique that your phone utilizes to figure out your location.
Some computers have built-in GPS circuitry too, allowing the devices to be tracked and recovered if lost. If your PC has that, well, the entire point of GPS — known globally as Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) – is to be able to figure out where you are on the planet, so that’s an easy solution for the Maps program!
But what about if you don’t have either cellular or GPS hardware? Turns out that there are two more data points that can be analyzed to figure out location: Your IP address and the list of all available wi-fi networks at your location. Remember, every access point in the world has its own Internet Protocol (IP) address, so theoretically knowing the address of the router you’re utilizing can zero in your location all by itself.
Available Wi-Fi networks can assist too because while you might think that even the number of networks within a mile of you is a staggering number, computers are really good at enormous datasets. Give it a list of every network that’s visible, coupled with an IP address, and it can be shockingly accurate at calculating your location, as you’ve found.
MICROSOFT MAPS FINDS MY LOCATION
Since most people who use Microsoft Maps want to start out at their current location, the default setting for Windows 11 is for the Maps app to have access to your location information. Wen I open it while at a coffee shop in downtown Longmont, CO, it instantly places the blue dot at my current location:
See that blue dot in the middle? It’s astonishingly accurate because I am indeed at a coffee shop at the intersection of Main Street and 4th Avenue, just a few feet from the street. I can see that I’m just a block or so from Jefe’s Longmont, which is sounding pretty good given that I’m hungry and always love Mexican food… but let’s stay on task!
Click on the “•••” on the top right and you can get to Maps settings. There are two interesting things to see in the program’s weirdly sparse Settings area:
Your default location becomes quite important if you do disable Location access for the Maps program. Click “Change default location” and add your home or work address. Helpful.
Scroll down further and you’ll see the privacy setting related to location too:
Did you realize that Microsoft Maps is tracking every search you do? That’s easily disabled, but it’s the Permissions area we’re more interested in. Click on “Location privacy“.
WINDOWS 11 LOCATION PRIVACY SETTINGS
This moves you to the Settings app on Privacy & security > Location:
You can disable all location services with the top control, but that might have some unintended consequences. Instead, I recommend you go through the apps, asking yourself whether each and every one really needs access to your location. You can see that Maps is at the bottom (and is labeled “Currently in use”). If I click on the blue slider switch to disable this feature, then quit and restart Maps, check out what happens:
Same map – since it remembers locations – but there’s no blue dot: It has no idea where I am located.
That’s the full story on location identification in Windows and particularly in Microsoft Maps. Now you know, you can enable or disable features as desired. Good luck!
Pro tip: I’ve been writing about Microsoft Windows for many years. Please check out my extensive and well-documented Windows help area for over 1,000 useful tutorials!