Geolocation

The geolocation object provides access to location data based on the device's GPS sensor or inferred from network signals.

Geolocation provides information about the device's location, such as latitude and longitude. Common sources of location information include Global Positioning System (GPS) and location inferred from network signals such as IP address, RFID, WiFi and Bluetooth MAC addresses, and GSM/CDMA cell IDs. There is no guarantee that the API returns the device's actual location.

This API is based on the W3C Geolocation API Specification, and only executes on devices that don't already provide an implementation.

WARNING: Collection and use of geolocation data raises important privacy issues. Your app's privacy policy should discuss how the app uses geolocation data, whether it is shared with any other parties, and the level of precision of the data (for example, coarse, fine, ZIP code level, etc.). Geolocation data is generally considered sensitive because it can reveal users' whereabouts and, if stored, the history of their travels. Therefore, in addition to the app's privacy policy, you should strongly consider providing a just-in-time notice before the app accesses geolocation data (if the device operating system doesn't do so already). That notice should provide the same information noted above, as well as obtaining the user's permission (e.g., by presenting choices for OK and No Thanks). For more information, please see the Privacy Guide.

Methods

Arguments

Objects (Read-Only)

Accessing the Feature

As of version 3.0, Cordova implements device-level APIs as plugins. Use the CLI's plugin command, described in The Command-Line Interface, to add or remove this feature for a project:

    $ cordova plugin add org.apache.cordova.geolocation
    $ cordova plugin ls
    [ 'org.apache.cordova.geolocation' ]
    $ cordova plugin rm org.apache.cordova.geolocation

These commands apply to all targeted platforms, but modify the platform-specific configuration settings described below:

  • Amazon Fire OS

      (in app/res/xml/config.xml)
  <feature name="Geolocation">
      <param name="android-package" value="org.apache.cordova.geolocation.GeoBroker" />
  </feature>

  (in app/AndroidManifest.xml)
  <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION" />
  <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION" />

  • Android

      (in app/res/xml/config.xml)
  <feature name="Geolocation">
      <param name="android-package" value="org.apache.cordova.geolocation.GeoBroker" />
  </feature>

  (in app/AndroidManifest.xml)
  <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION" />
  <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION" />

  • BlackBerry WebWorks

      (in www/plugins.xml)
  <feature name="Geolocation">
      <param name="blackberry-package" value="org.apache.cordova.geolocation.Geolocation" />
  </feature>

  (in www/config.xml)
  <rim:permissions>
      <rim:permit>read_geolocation</rim:permit>
  </rim:permissions>

  • FirefoxOS (in the manifest.webapp file)

      "permissions": {
      "geolocation": { "description": "Used to position the map to your current position" }
  }

  • iOS (in the named application directory's config.xml)

      <feature name="Geolocation">
      <param name="ios-package" value="CDVLocation" />
  </feature>

  • Windows Phone (in Properties/WPAppManifest.xml)

      <Capabilities>
      <Capability Name="ID_CAP_LOCATION" />
  </Capabilities>

    Reference: Application Manifest for Windows Phone

Some platforms may support this feature without requiring any special configuration. See Platform Support for an overview.