Right here, right now

IDEA No 93

GEOLOCATION

It is hard to imagine now but there was a time when we could access the Web with relative anonymity. It was a place simply to search, rather than to be found.

The dating app Tinder uses GPS to help people meet potential partners in their area.

This all changed around 2005 when curious fellows like Tim Hibbard began to experiment with Global Positioning System (GPS) technology. Hibbard carried around a GPS-enabled phone, allowing people to track him in real time on his website, wherestim.com. Geolocation, the ability to pinpoint a person’s location using their computer’s IP address or GPS-enabled device, ...

Get 100 Ideas that Changed the Web now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.