W3C Geolocation API

Geolocation API
First published22 December 2008 (2008-12-22)
Latest versionW3C Recommendation
1 September 2022 (2022-09-01)
Organization
CommitteeGeolocation Working Group
EditorsAndrei Popescu
DomainGeographical location information
Websitewww.w3.org/TR/geolocation-API/

The W3C Geolocation API is an effort by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) to standardize an interface to retrieve the geographical location information for a client-side device. It defines a set of objects, ECMAScript standard compliant, that executing in the client application give the client's device location through the consulting of Location Information Servers, which are transparent for the application programming interface (API). The most common sources of location information are IP address, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth MAC address, radio-frequency identification (RFID), Wi-Fi connection location, or device Global Positioning System (GPS) and GSM/CDMA cell IDs. The location is returned with a given accuracy depending on the best location information source available.

The result of W3C Geolocation API will usually give 4 location properties, including latitude and longitude (coordinates), altitude (height), and accuracy [of the position gathered], which all depend on the location sources.