IE9 W3C Geolocation Support

Update 9/2/2010: I heard from Adrian Bateman, Microsoft's Program Manager for Internet Explorer, on the W3C Geolocation mailing list:

We haven't announced support for the Geolocation API. As you're no doubt aware, in general we do not comment on if and when a particular feature might be part of a future product and I don't have any news to share on this particular topic.

So, not good news, but I'm holding out hope! A few other members on the list had points on Microsoft's ability to implement Geolocation.

I pulled down the latest IE9 platform preview yesterday to check its support for the W3C Geolocation API.

Unfortunately, it doesn't appear to be supported yet. I've seen rumors that it may be supported, but I'm not sure how to confirm.

In the mean time, I built a little application that will tell you if your browser supports W3C Geolocation and attempt to Geolocate you: http://www.andypemberton.com/geo/

Without IE9, that means Geolocation is supported by the following browsers:

• Chrome 5
• Firefox 3.6
• Opera 10.6
• Safari 5 (including Safari Mobile on the iPhone)

I'm also working on building out a list of sites that are using the W3C Geolocation API today. Right now, the best example I can provide is on www.google.com. Though, for now, Google is only using the technique for mobile browsers. To prove this out, you can:

1. Use FireFox 3.6
2. Install the FireFox User Agent Switcher Plugin
3. Set your user agent to iPhone 3.0 
4. Hit www.google.com

Here's a screenshot of the technique in action on Google's home page:

Here's a summary of my efforts to research the IE9's support:

• It's not mentioned in the Developer Guide for the Platform Preview: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/ie/ff468705.aspx#_cfWeb_standards_support
• Nor the release notes: http://ie.microsoft.com/testdrive/info/ReleaseNotes/Default.html
• Can't get much help on the IE Developer Forum: http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/iewebdevelopment/thread/1fa76346-fdd5-4b56-846f-e66ac8b3b041
• I emailed the IEBlog owner and heard back: "The IE team has not announced any support for this feature in IE9."
• I also tried asking twitter.com/IE and twitter.com/Soyale on Twitter
• Finally, running out of options, I opened a bug on Microsoft Connect: https://connect.microsoft.com/IE/feedback/details/591908/ie9-preview-4-does-not-support-w3c-geolocation-api

So, if you're interested in seeing IE9 support W3C Geolocation, please go out and "up vote" my Microsoft Connect bug or talk about it on Twitter: http://twitter.com/apemberton/status/22620134711.