Besides network details, network-based
geolocation can be supplemented with data you provide yourself. For example, if
you regularly use a booking service to look up movie times at a certain cinema,
it doesn’t take a genius to guess where you might live. Online retailers will
learn your home address when you place an order, and services such as Facebook
invite you to specify your region (and all sorts of other information) for
social networking purposes.
Geolocation
through data collation can also be used to build up a profile of your job, your
age, your interests and countless other forms of personal information
Once you’ve shared this information, it
becomes possible for online services to exploit it, both for your convenience
and perhaps to pester you with targeted marketing.
Thanks to sharing arrangements, information
about you from several sources may be collated, using cookies stored in your
browser to establish that the person who searched for a dentist situated near a
certain address on Monday is the same person who then ordered a taxi to that location
on Thursday.
Needless to say, this approach isn’t
limited to simply working out your location – it can also be used to build up a
profile of your job, your age, your interests and countless other forms of
personal information. If you have ever been targeted by suspiciously precise
adverts, or have been surprised to find that the first time you visit a website
it already knows what you want to look at, this is most likely how it’s been
achieved.
If you’re uncomfortable about this type of
data collation, you’ll be pleased to hear that most browsers now support an
option called Do Not Track, which instructs online services not to collect and
combine information about your activities across multiple websites. This isn’t
legally enforced at the moment, and some companies are actively pushing back
against the move, so be warned that many websites may still be tracking your
online behavior.
What geolocation can do for you
1.
Finding friends
Thanks to mobile phones and text messages,
missed connections rarely occur these days. With services such as Foursquare,
Google Latitude and Apple’s Find My Friends app, you can go a step further and
see where all your friends are at a glance. It’s a great, non-intrusive way to
keep track of where people are, and you can use it to organize impromptu
gatherings if your friends happen to be passing by. It’s an opt-in only service
– otherwise, the potential for stalkers and spies would be too great.
2.
Tracking down lost hardware
It’s a sad fact that smartphones, tablets
and laptops attract thieves. The good news is that if you are a victim of
crime, it may be possible to recover your stolen hardware, and perhaps even
apprehend the perpetrator, thanks to geolocation technology. Sign up with a
free service such as Prey (http://preyproject.com)
or Apple’s Where’s My Mac/iPhone/iPad, and if your device is stolen, you can
use live geolocation to track down the thief – or to reclam the device, if it
was just mislaid.
3.
Live driving directions
Not many years ago, GPS technology was most
commonly found in the navigation services hardware, typically costing hundreds
of pounds. Today, thanks to mobile internet and the ubiquity of geolocation
systems, the smartphone in your pocket can do the same job, complete with voice
directions and live traffic information. Choose from the free Google Maps
Navigation feature on Android, or the official TomTom app for iOS. It’s worth
investing in a mobile charger for long trips, though.
4.
Geolocate your photos
As well as phones and tablets, many cameras
(both compacts and DSLPs) also have built-in GPS receivers that can
automatically record gelocation information into the EXIF metadata of each
picture. When you upload your images to a service such as Flickr, your pictures
can then be automatically tagged on a map, making it easy to group your shots
by subject. Be wary of sharing EXIF data on personal photos, though, as you may
be giving away more information than you intend.
5.
Location-based dating
Computer dating has been helping single
people to find partners for years, but we wonder how many relationships go
beyond the point of exchanging emails. Now, with the aid of geolocation
technology, you can receive an alert when you’re in the same room as someone
who matches your profile – giving you the perfect opportunity to break the ice.
Search the Apple App Store or Google Play for the OkCupid app – or try a
service such as the execrably named MeetMoi (www.meetmoi.com).
6.
Geocaching
Geocaching is a popular pastime among geeks
who like the great outdoors. You simply hide something (in a secure container)
somewhere in the world, and share its GPS co-ordinates. Other GPS users can
then try to locate your hidden object;: if they’re successful, they may sign a
logbook, and leave or swap a small gift for other geocachers. More than five
million people in over 200 countries participate in geocaching – plus,
according to official website www.geocaching.com
at least one in space.
