Mapping and Sensed Location

Thinking about geospatial, many people focus only on maps. But maps are simply a tool to visualise spatial data. I've recently become interested in sensed locations, or knowing where a user is from GPS or IP geolocation. The latter is fascinating. Taking a best guess at where a user is based on their IP address. There is more on this at the following slideshow

Though there are obviously privacy issues here. Knowing, for example, where a user is when accessing your web site, can help tune the experience. Maybe allowing developers to provide more relevant content.

Local data and search are my current areas of focus. This is very relevant. More on this in subsequent posts.