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Which Google API does Firefox use to obtain the user's location?

  • 3 replies
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  • Last reply by philipp

jspechts
jspechts
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Is this it?--https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/business/geolocation/

If yes, why does Mozilla send your computer's IP address if the API does not request this? Is this so that Google knows who to send the response back to?

If no, which API / web service is used?

Which IP Address is sent and how does FireFox get this IP address?

What if no WiFi APs are available nearby. Does FireFox fall back to IP geolocation? Does it fail? What happens?

Thanks in advance!

Is this it?--https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/business/geolocation/ If yes, why does Mozilla send your computer's IP address if the API does not request this? Is this so that Google knows who to send the response back to? If no, which API / web service is used? Which IP Address is sent and how does FireFox get this IP address? What if no WiFi APs are available nearby. Does FireFox fall back to IP geolocation? Does it fail? What happens? Thanks in advance!

All Replies (3)

philipp
philipp
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hello jspechts, yes currently firefox is using google's location service for this purpose - for more details how the submitted data is used, please refer to its privacy policy: http://www.google.com/privacy/lsf.html

mozilla is also working on a crowd-sourced geolocation database/service, more details are available at https://location.services.mozilla.com. it's still in quite an early state, but if you want to test-run it in firefox you could enter about:config into the address bar, search for a preference named geo.wifi.uri, double-click it and change its value to https://location.services.mozilla.com/v1/geolocate.

jspechts
jspechts Question owner
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Hi philipp,

Thank you for the fast reply.

So I understand now the Google location search API that Firefox uses. How about my other questions above:

1. Which IP Address is sent and how does FireFox get this IP address?

2. What if no WiFi APs are available nearby. Does FireFox fall back to IP geolocation? Does it fail? What happens?

Could you help me or point me to resources that can help me?

Thanks!

philipp
philipp
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hello, i couldn't find any documentation on that particular subject, but the IP address is named as one of the common network sources that are used to derive a location from in the geolocation API standard: http://www.w3.org/TR/geolocation-API/

however i'm fairly sure that firefox won't collect your ip especially for this purpose - due to how the web works it's intrinsic that every connection your computer establishes over the internet also reveals your public-facing ip address (http://myip.dk/). i presume in case no wifi or cell data is submitted to google through the geolocation request, google matches this ip against some internal database and returns a rough location anyway...