I have begun a journey into Java and my first program has produced some interesting fruit. Using some net-svengali magickery I will attempt to find your location without asking you for ANY details whatsoever. None of the usual “hello world” first program malarkey here! Just for the record, this does not use IP Geolocation initially – hence the accuracy in the cases that it works (normally ‘right on the doorstep’). If it fails to find a near exact fix for you, it will now try IP Geolocation (usually reported back as ‘a few miles away’).
Its not an exact science and for many of you this wont work at all, so dont be surprised if the location you are shown isnt where you are – I’ll try to get as close as possible with the data available to the application at the time. I also havent tested it on a Mac yet so you Mac users may get weird results. This has been tested on Linux, Windows XP, Windows vista and Windows 7. Theoretically, this applet should be able to find you to within a few hundred metres of where you are right now. I guess what im trying to say is, I’m not making any representations that this will work for you – its just a bit of fun I came up with while learning Java. It also demonstrates to you how any site you visit can run a java applet which can tell them (in most cases) your near exact location.
To address privacy concerns : I have no need for and do not keep any records of your location. The applet will not access any of your personal files.
You will need to allow java applets and popups in your browser to try it out (the popup just goes to google maps). You may also be requested (by your browser) for permission to run the java application, just click run and give it a moment to do its work. you should then you should see a button which says ’show me on a map’ – click that button for the results. If this works for you, please post up a comment and let me know how close I got to your true location and if it doesn’t, well that just goes to show you are not as traceable as some others out there in internet land.
UPDATE: Reports are coming in that this does not work under safari or at all on any Mac. Your mileage may vary! If you cannot get this to work, please feedback your Browser version and Operating system version in a comment. Thanks!
cowfoot touched a poodle on the winky
Right county.. About 10 miles or so off. (11.81 miles to be precise)
Put me in the houses of parliament.. Thought it was a joke, but that’s WAY off..
Witchcraft!!! How did you get so close?
Put me about 60 miles away. Good Idea though.
Definitely not working on OSX with Chrome 5.0.307.5 dev.
Very close, 50 meters!
Put me in Westminster.
138 miles away!
Neat toy, I have back engineered it and my “boys” are coming to see you.
15 miles off.
Still rather worrying.
about 2 miles out
I’m running an IBM laptop with Win XP (SP2), tried this on both Firefox 3.5.7 and IE 8, and it didn’t work. However, when I tried this on another computer, which is running a Vista and the same Firefox version, it worked okay, although the result was about 1200-1300 meters off from my actual location.
It thinks i’m in the house accross the road, but that’s still pretty bloody accurate.
rather terrifying if you think of the implications of it all…
Says I live in the houses of parliament!
exact location. EXACT.
About 2 miles away
Not working for me. After clicking ‘Run’ in the security warning pop-up, I just get to stare at a grey box. Am I doing it wrong?
This is on Ubuntu Karmic, both with Chromium 5 and Firefox 3.6.
Im not sure, as you have the exact same setup as me. Ubuntu Karmic + FF 3.6 (or chrome beta). Do you run the noscript plugin maybe?
I tried disabling extensions, but had the same result.
I now get this “Trying to track you down. A button will appear” message. Still just the grey box though, no button. Am I untrackable?
13.2 miles away….. like the idea though!
It got me within 2 metres! Cool!
I can only see the blog post and nothing else happens. Is there something I’ve not managed to see?
Safari Version 4.0.4 (5531.21.10) not working.
Will try FF.
Right outside my door! Crazy
Got me within about 5 miles which I’d say is good enough.
he he, guess I can do anything I like with no fear of being tracked then – told me I was in Brazil, actually in New York City!
Got my exact location!