Location-based web sites have become so commonplace that we frequently take their functionality for granted. Type Starbucks into your Google search bar, and you’ll get a list of numerous store locations within your immediate vicinity, without you even needing to specify a town or city. Flickr’s map page has a “Find my location” button that will show you pictures taken in areas near you. And if you want to geotag your blog entris, WordPress has a plugin for that.

With the advent of HTML5, building geolocation functionality into web content has become incredibly easy, thanks to the release of the Geolocation API, which provides a standardized mechanism across all major web browsers for querying and receiving user location data.