Location based redirection
 

This may already be possible, or not.
Is there a way that determines where someone is entering the URL or search or clicking through a link to get to a webpage (mobile and PC based) that would then take them to a location relevant page based perhaps on their GPS, ISP, etc?

Ie possibly useful for local dialects, Scottish people would respond to different things than English etc

Re: Location based redirection
 

There are several ways to do this, however there are a few issues when obtaining accurately the location of someone with a mobile device.

Typically a desktop user can be geo-graphically targeted based on their IP address. However roaming users accessing the internet their IP address will not indicate their true location. For example i am based in San Antonio, TX but if i do a reverse look up of my IP address it says i am in Dallas, TX.

For people using a mobile device you can pull the users location from their phone's GPS that is pretty accurate - look at Google Maps for example. However with privacy laws in place (i think and am not 100% sure here) you have to request permission to obtain the users location to do this. So this can interrupt the overall flow - and you most account for a user not giving permission in your logistics.

If you want more info let me know.

HTH

Jay

Re: Location based redirection
 

Thanks Jay, as always great reply , will look into it a bit more and be back to yo

Re: Location based redirection
 

Well if its a search you have the local refferer i.a. google.uk.co. Same goes for Yahoo and Bing, So that should be scriptable right? And for all other refferals the TLD can say a lot, tho not 100% accurate.

Jay Moreno GPS isn't accurate if it isn't on I quess. I don't have it on all the time since it drains batteries, don't know if thats common usage tho, but I could imagine it is.

And how about using exicting cookies on devices? Like the Google cookie ;)

Re: Location based redirection
 

The referrer could actually be not a bad way of doing it, I guess it depends how accurate you want to be ie by country or within a few feet and if your only concerned about which search engine they came from but going for dialects yeah you would need something more accurate :)

Guess getting results from a GPS not being turned on is about as accurate as getting info from cookies when cookies are not enabled too, or the user hasn't given permission to have them stored due to the EU cookie laws :)

Besides I thought accessing cookie info via cross domain would be a huge security/privacy issue? Am sure it's possible but not something I've ever needed to try out though so can't comment on that

But FYI geo targeted marketing can be very profitable so good luck

Re: Location based redirection
 

OK well some of the thoughts I was having were along the lines of someone walking through or into town, or wherever, ordering a pizza (or anything), and arranging to have it delivered to them in a park or wherever theyre sitting .

Others are the more obvious 1/2 mile radius time limited special offer, come in now and xyz......

and ensuring that on searches or URL input ,the user can be taken to the actual location relevant page for that entire site, ie specific retail /eatery branches, etc or whether this last angle may be best served via APPS?

Re: Location based redirection
 

hi Dennis thanks for the input, im not techhie. totally marketing brain this end, can you explain a bit more re the refferer approach please and the cookies suggestion too if you have a moment

Re: Location based redirection
 

Thanks everyone, I learned a lot today

Re: Location based redirection
 

There is a way to get the user's current location on a mobile device from a mobile web site, however it really needs to be coded by someone that knows how to handle timeouts with callbacks in javascript.

navigator.geolocation.getCurrentPosition - will/should get you a latitude and longitude.

Do a search on google for more info and code examples.

Re: Location based redirection
 

About the cookies...Ever wondered how come if you looked at an add it somehow pops up everywhere you go? And not only google partners ;) Thats exactly why there is a new cookie law!

Another way to do it is by using Google maps engine, they ask if you want to share you're location... Could use the same coding if its needed for the service someone wants to create right? At least you know for sure the coding will be okay as John mentioned also.

Re: Location based redirection
 

navigator.geolocation is a good choice. Pay attention, though, that some browsers don't use coarse location (based on wifi network), they only prefer fine location (based on GPS). For a custom browser, application privilege might also disable both locations.

But it's possible and easy to implement, that I'm sure of.