1322477 - current location sharing on google maps

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(Core :: DOM: Geolocation, defect, P5)

Description

[029shailesh]

What did you do?
================
1. I was trying to get my current location on google maps
2. 
3. 

What happened?
==============
When I was trying to get my current location on Mozilla Dev Edition but it is showing near by location that is 1.5 km away from me. But when I tried with google chrome, it was showing me accurate current location another thing is when I tried same from Microsoft edge, it is also showing me wrong current location. So what is the matter, is google maps doesn't share  accurate location other than chrome? Or anything else? 

What should have happened?
==========================
It should be accurate

Is there anything else we should know?
======================================
My PC settings are enabled show current location and GPS is on.

Comment 1

[Hsin-Yi Tsai (she/her) [:hsinyi]]

(In reply to 029shailesh from comment #0)
> What did you do?
> ================
> 1. I was trying to get my current location on google maps
> 2. 
> 3. 
> 
> What happened?
> ==============
> When I was trying to get my current location on Mozilla Dev Edition but it
> is showing near by location that is 1.5 km away from me. But when I tried
> with google chrome, it was showing me accurate current location another
> thing is when I tried same from Microsoft edge, it is also showing me wrong
> current location. So what is the matter, is google maps doesn't share 
> accurate location other than chrome? Or anything else? 
> 

Hello Josh, do you have ideas what's up here? Thanks!

> What should have happened?
> ==========================
> It should be accurate
> 
> Is there anything else we should know?
> ======================================
> My PC settings are enabled show current location and GPS is on.

Comment 2

[garvankeeley+github]

Thanks for checking in Edge, that likely eliminates geolocation as a problem. Can you compare openstreetmap geolocation, or a non-google website? A 1.5km level of inaccuracy for non-GPS geolocation is reasonable.

Were you logged in to your google account on Chrome? Do you have an android device? If so, Chrome can use recent info from your android device to improve your location. On iOS, I am not aware if this is also done if you are logged in to google apps that use geolocation on that platform.

Comment 3

[Josh Matthews [:jdm]]

It sounds like Garvan has a bunch of better ideas than me.

Comment 4

[029shailesh]

First of all thank you for your response.
I have done some research on this.
I have tried almost all of the bellow global online map service providers

OpenStreetMap
ArcGIS Online (Esri)
Google Maps
Yandex Maps
Bing Maps
ViaMichelin
MapQuest
WikiMapia
Here
Mappy

and I found that Mozilla Firefox, Chrome, Edge are all showing correct current location except Mozilla Dev Edition.
I think location service is not quite well working.

Comment 5

[garvankeeley+github]

Can you try set about:config `geo.provider.ms-windows-location=true` and report if that fixed the problem? (btw, on windows older than 8 this setting is ignored).

More info:
I am on mac Nightly, and I am using Mozilla Location Service provider (I override the default/native to force this), I'll explain what a `provider` is. My location is reported accurately. 
I don't have a windows box ATM. All indicators are that you are getting a GeoIP in Firefox, and a wi-fi scan based location in other browsers.

The `geolocation provider` can be Google, Apple, Windows, or Mozilla; it is the service we query for location. It is different depending on the OS. It looks like on windows we are using Mozilla Location Service (since if ms-windows-location is false, we use Mozilla's):

```
browser/app/profile/firefox.js
1252:pref("geo.provider.ms-windows-location", false);
```

Which leads to the remaining possible problems I can think of:
1) The wifi scan is failing: this would be a widespread problem and there would be lots of reports
2) Mozilla Location Service does not have wifi location data for your area, which causes isolated reports of inaccurate geolocation

A way to debug (1) is setting about:config `geo.wifi.logging.enabled=true`
Then in the Browser Console (https://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Tools/Browser_Console) one will see:
`*** WIFI GEO: sending { <wifi AP data> }`

Comment 6

[Andrew Overholt [:overholt]]

Thanks for the investigation and tips, Garvan! Can you check again, please, reporter?

Comment 7

[Jonathan Watt [:jwatt]]

Mass bug change to replace various 'parity' whiteboard flags with the new canonical keywords. (See bug 1443764 comment 13.)

Comment 8

[Sylvestre Ledru [:Sylvestre]]

Sometimes, MLS returns different issues than GLS... Closing.