Geolocations with javascript

I'm working on a script to get the Geolocations (Lat, lon) that I can use to center my instance of google maps. For now i work with 2 possible technologies. One is the google.loader.ClientLocation object. I haven't tested this one yet because it returns null for me. I think because I'm not living on a regular location (Willemstad, Curacao using a wireless internet connection. So my modem is wireless.).

Therefore I made a backup plan using navigator.geolocation. This works great in Chrome, but firefox gives a timeout and it doesn't work at all in IE.

Does anyone know a good alternative method to get the users geolocation, or does anyone have recommendation on my code how it can become more stable.

I set a timeout for navigator.geolocation because I don't want my users to wait for more as 5 seconds. Increasing the timeout does not improve the reliability of firefox.

function init_tracker_map() {
 var latitude;
 var longitude;

 if(google.loader.ClientLocation) {
  latitude = (google.loader.ClientLocation.latitude);
  longitude = (google.loader.ClientLocation.longitude);
  buildMap(latitude, longitude);
 }
 else if (navigator.geolocation) { 
  navigator.geolocation.getCurrentPosition(
   function(position) {
    latitude = (position.coords.latitude);
    longitude = (position.coords.longitude);
    buildMap(latitude, longitude);
   },
   function errorCallback(error) {
    useDefaultLatLon();
   },
   {
    enableHighAccuracy:false,
    maximumAge:Infinity,
    timeout:5000
   }
  );
 }
 else {
  useDefaultLatLon();
 }
}

function useDefaultLatLon() {
 latitude = (51.81540697949437);
 longitude = (5.72113037109375);
 buildMap(latitude, longitude);
}

ps. I'm aware there are more questions like this on SO but couldn't find a clear answer. I'm hoping that people made some new discovery's.

Update: Tried google gears aswell. Succesfull in chrome again. Fails in FF and IE.

var geo = google.gears.factory.create('beta.geolocation');
if(geo) {
  function updatePosition(position) {
    alert('Current lat/lon is: ' + position.latitude + ',' + position.longitude);
  }

  function handleError(positionError) {
    alert('Attempt to get location failed: ' + positionError.message);
  }
  geo.getCurrentPosition(updatePosition, handleError);
}

Update 2: navigator.geolocation works fine in FF from my work location.

Final Result

This works great. Get an api key from ipinfodb.org

var Geolocation = new geolocate(false, true);
Geolocation.checkcookie(function() {
    alert('Visitor latitude code : ' + Geolocation.getField('Latitude'));
    alert('Visitor Longitude code : ' + Geolocation.getField('Longitude'));
});

function geolocate(timezone, cityPrecision) {
    alert("Using IPInfoDB");
    var key = 'your api code';
    var api = (cityPrecision) ? "ip_query.php" : "ip_query_country.php";
    var domain = 'api.ipinfodb.com';
    var version = 'v2';
    var url = "http://" + domain + "/" + version + "/" + api + "?key=" + key + "&output=json" + ((timezone) ? "&timezone=true" : "&timezone=false" ) + "&callback=?";
    var geodata;
    var JSON = JSON || {};
    var callback =  function() {
        alert("lol");
    }

    // implement JSON.stringify serialization
    JSON.stringify = JSON.stringify || function (obj) {
        var t = typeof (obj);
        if (t != "object" || obj === null) {
            // simple data type
            if (t == "string") obj = '"'+obj+'"';
            return String(obj);
        } 
        else {
            // recurse array or object
            var n, v, json = [], arr = (obj && obj.constructor == Array);
            for (n in obj) {
                v = obj[n]; t = typeof(v);
                if (t == "string") v = '"'+v+'"';
                else if (t == "object" && v !== null) v = JSON.stringify(v);
                json.push((arr ? "" : '"' + n + '":') + String(v));
            }
            return (arr ? "[" : "{") + String(json) + (arr ? "]" : "}");
        }
    };

    // implement开发者_如何学C JSON.parse de-serialization
    JSON.parse = JSON.parse || function (str) {
        if (str === "") str = '""';
        eval("var p=" + str + ";");
        return p;
    };

    // Check if cookie already exist. If not, query IPInfoDB
    this.checkcookie = function(callback) {
        geolocationCookie = getCookie('geolocation');
        if (!geolocationCookie) {
            getGeolocation(callback);
        } 
        else {
            geodata = JSON.parse(geolocationCookie);
            callback();
        }
    }

    // Return a geolocation field
    this.getField = function(field) {
        try {
            return geodata[field];
        } catch(err) {}
    }

    // Request to IPInfoDB
    function getGeolocation(callback) {
        try {
            $.getJSON(url,
                    function(data){
                if (data['Status'] == 'OK') {
                    geodata = data;
                    JSONString = JSON.stringify(geodata);
                    setCookie('geolocation', JSONString, 365);
                    callback();
                }
            });
        } catch(err) {}
    }

    // Set the cookie
    function setCookie(c_name, value, expire) {
        var exdate=new Date();
        exdate.setDate(exdate.getDate()+expire);
        document.cookie = c_name+ "=" +escape(value) + ((expire==null) ? "" : ";expires="+exdate.toGMTString());
    }

    // Get the cookie content
    function getCookie(c_name) {
        if (document.cookie.length > 0 ) {
            c_start=document.cookie.indexOf(c_name + "=");
            if (c_start != -1){
                c_start=c_start + c_name.length+1;
                c_end=document.cookie.indexOf(";",c_start);
                if (c_end == -1) {
                    c_end=document.cookie.length;
                }
                return unescape(document.cookie.substring(c_start,c_end));
            }
        }
        return '';
    }
}

geolocation using javascript will work with HTML 5 compliant browsers, so that leaves out IE completely.

Your alternative is to use the IP address to ascertain the approximate lat/long.

Using this alternative method and assuming you find a provider with an accurate and complete lat/long-to-IP mapping, you will only get the lat/long of the ISP (or the nearest point where the ISP connects to the internet).

Hope this resets your expectation (about location-accuracy)

you should read this Which Devices Support Javascript Geolocation via navigator.geolocation?

I had a similar problem and, for browsers without geolocation, went with server-side location based on the user's IP.

Two free geolocation services are:

• http://www.maxmind.com/app/geolitecity
• http://www.hostip.info/

I found maxmind to me much more accurate.

If it's possible within your project you could query the location before rendering the page, or perform an ajax call to query the location.