Film, Media & TV5 mins ago
Why Does Google Maps
11 Answers
Always open to the same location about 60 miles West of me? I have saved my home address which is there as an option but it never opens on it. This is on Win 10 laptop so no GPS option as far as I'm aware.
Answers
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This isn't a full explanation, but itis the best one I can come up with. You'll have to put up with a bit of history first though. IP addresses are issued to service providers ib blocks which are supposed to be used for specific geograpic areas. That was OK in the dim and distant past (the 80's and early 90's) when ISPs in the US were largely local to a city or state. In...
11:05 Sun 23rd Jun 2019
I have a similar problem. My two laptops, connected wirelessly to my router, know exactly where I am. My desktop, connected to the router via an ethernet cable, thinks I'm about 30 miles east of where I am. I asked on here some time back what the reason might be but didn't get a satisfactory answer. Let's see if you do.
This isn't a full explanation, but itis the best one I can come up with. You'll have to put up with a bit of history first though.
IP addresses are issued to service providers ib blocks which are supposed to be used for specific geograpic areas. That was OK in the dim and distant past (the 80's and early 90's) when ISPs in the US were largely local to a city or state. In the UK the ISP's usually ignored the geographical stuff associatd with IP addresses and assigned them as needed. Thus on a dial up line you were given a different IP address every time you connected to the net.
Broadband changed that but, again in the UK, the ISPs mostly ignored the geographic bit of the IP addresses. When living in London and using broadband, I was shown as being in Scotland, Wales and the midlands as well as London at various times.
When Google map the country they also pick up and record the SSID which is broadcast by any wireless routers in the streets. They then use the combination of SSID and IP address to show your location when you go into maps.
In the case of mobile phones and tablets, there is also the GPS location available to Google.
Now for the fun bit which may answer your and bhg's queries.
In major cities and towns, Google send their cars around fairly regularly to remap the areas and keep streetview up to date. Out in the sticks (where I am now) vsits by the Google camera cars are less frequent (streetview where I live is from 2009).
For Prudie, if she is out in the sticks, Google may only have the IP address to work with, and that, at least in the UK, can be unreliable. Again, if Prudie is in the countryside, it is quite possible that Google don't have up to date data for your router's location and will be forced to use the IP address to show your location.
For bhg, who I would guess is in a city, the wireless machines will show an accurate location based in the SSID of his router, but his desktop connected direct to the router can only be traced via the IP address, which as I've already noted, can be unreliable.
IP addresses are issued to service providers ib blocks which are supposed to be used for specific geograpic areas. That was OK in the dim and distant past (the 80's and early 90's) when ISPs in the US were largely local to a city or state. In the UK the ISP's usually ignored the geographical stuff associatd with IP addresses and assigned them as needed. Thus on a dial up line you were given a different IP address every time you connected to the net.
Broadband changed that but, again in the UK, the ISPs mostly ignored the geographic bit of the IP addresses. When living in London and using broadband, I was shown as being in Scotland, Wales and the midlands as well as London at various times.
When Google map the country they also pick up and record the SSID which is broadcast by any wireless routers in the streets. They then use the combination of SSID and IP address to show your location when you go into maps.
In the case of mobile phones and tablets, there is also the GPS location available to Google.
Now for the fun bit which may answer your and bhg's queries.
In major cities and towns, Google send their cars around fairly regularly to remap the areas and keep streetview up to date. Out in the sticks (where I am now) vsits by the Google camera cars are less frequent (streetview where I live is from 2009).
For Prudie, if she is out in the sticks, Google may only have the IP address to work with, and that, at least in the UK, can be unreliable. Again, if Prudie is in the countryside, it is quite possible that Google don't have up to date data for your router's location and will be forced to use the IP address to show your location.
For bhg, who I would guess is in a city, the wireless machines will show an accurate location based in the SSID of his router, but his desktop connected direct to the router can only be traced via the IP address, which as I've already noted, can be unreliable.
Sorry, I should have added a bit more to my last answer.
If Prudie has changed her ISP or router since the last time the Google cars were in her location, Google won't have her current SSID to locate her and will have to rely only on her IP address for location.
As to why Google ignores her home address, your guess is as good as mine :-)
If Prudie has changed her ISP or router since the last time the Google cars were in her location, Google won't have her current SSID to locate her and will have to rely only on her IP address for location.
As to why Google ignores her home address, your guess is as good as mine :-)
I've done a bit more playing about since yesterday, and it turns out the Google does know my exact address despite what I said yesterday.
Doing a sarch for "find my location in Google maps" comes up with the name of the parish I live in (local government parish that is) and a map of the area. If I click on the map it takes me to Google maps. If I then click on the map it takes me to Google maps.
At the bottom right hand side of the map is a column of symbols with the person outline at the bottom, a minus and plus symbol above that and at the top one which is a black circle.
Clicking on the black circle and allowing Google to use location access zooms the map and highlights a spot on the road where I live with a blue circle. If I click on that blue circle I get an address range which is only a few doors down the road from me.
Doing the same kind of thing on Bing maps in a different browser manages to get my exact address.
I can't decide whether or not to be a bit concerned about that kind of detail being available to the folk at Google and Microsoft and probably others that I wot not of. Probably not, but I'm not too keen on the idea that persons unknown can potentially track me so easily.
Doing a sarch for "find my location in Google maps" comes up with the name of the parish I live in (local government parish that is) and a map of the area. If I click on the map it takes me to Google maps. If I then click on the map it takes me to Google maps.
At the bottom right hand side of the map is a column of symbols with the person outline at the bottom, a minus and plus symbol above that and at the top one which is a black circle.
Clicking on the black circle and allowing Google to use location access zooms the map and highlights a spot on the road where I live with a blue circle. If I click on that blue circle I get an address range which is only a few doors down the road from me.
Doing the same kind of thing on Bing maps in a different browser manages to get my exact address.
I can't decide whether or not to be a bit concerned about that kind of detail being available to the folk at Google and Microsoft and probably others that I wot not of. Probably not, but I'm not too keen on the idea that persons unknown can potentially track me so easily.
Huderon - thank you for the explanation. As you surmise I live on the outskirts of Reading and "Streetview" is updated fairly regularly. I have a dongle which enables me to connect my desktop to the router; I was going to try that but, after spending several days trying and failing to find the dongle I've given up. When the dongle does turn up I'll test your theory and report back.
bhg481 try what I did in maps without the dongle - ou might be surprised at the result.
I've done some more searching on this today, and it looks as though when you go into maps initially Google uses your IP address to try and locate you. That will, with luck, give them a general area.
If you click on the on the black circle you might, as I did, get a prompt in your browser asking for permission to allow Google to use location tracking. Allow it and see what happens.
It seems that Google (and Bing and presumably other services) keep a database of the locations of the SSIDs broadcast by routers, and that is what is being used to find where you are. Even if you are not using wi-fi, the router SSID is available to your desktop (you are directly connected to it after all), and that's how it is done.
And if Prudie is still following this, the SSID is the name used to identify your router - the one you chose to connect to the first time you used it on a particular device.
I've done some more searching on this today, and it looks as though when you go into maps initially Google uses your IP address to try and locate you. That will, with luck, give them a general area.
If you click on the on the black circle you might, as I did, get a prompt in your browser asking for permission to allow Google to use location tracking. Allow it and see what happens.
It seems that Google (and Bing and presumably other services) keep a database of the locations of the SSIDs broadcast by routers, and that is what is being used to find where you are. Even if you are not using wi-fi, the router SSID is available to your desktop (you are directly connected to it after all), and that's how it is done.
And if Prudie is still following this, the SSID is the name used to identify your router - the one you chose to connect to the first time you used it on a particular device.
Further update:
I finally found time to boot up the desktop - before booting I disconnected my ethernet cable and inserted my dongle. Google Maps found my location correctly.
I then removed the dongle, closed all browsers and then reconnected the ethernet cable. When restarting Google Maps it found my location correctly. ie, it had remembered my location.
The next step is to reboot and see where it thinks I am.
I finally found time to boot up the desktop - before booting I disconnected my ethernet cable and inserted my dongle. Google Maps found my location correctly.
I then removed the dongle, closed all browsers and then reconnected the ethernet cable. When restarting Google Maps it found my location correctly. ie, it had remembered my location.
The next step is to reboot and see where it thinks I am.
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