Firefox 3.5 - It knows where you live!

Last week saw the launch of the latest version of the worlds second most used browser – Firefox 3.5.

There are some, mainly developer, focused changes to the software, but by far the most exciting, interesting and intriguing is its ability for location aware browsing.

What this means is that certain sites, given your permission, will work out where you are via your IP address.  It’s a great addition to an already good piece of free software, and once you’ve downloaded the new version of Firefox, you can test the service out here.

For those iPhone and Blackberry users out there, geo-location is nothing new, however the fact that this now lives in your browser does present interesting opportunities. The demo API (Application Programming Interface) loads a map of your location and shows a number of services nearby.

This has massive potential for public services.  Want to find the nearest Children’s Centre or Health service? A couple of swift keystrokes could get the information.

Of course there could be privacy issues, but the Firefox plug-in puts the user in control, allowing sites to access their location or not as they wish.

At the moment, it seems all you get are hotels, but the possibilities could prove this piece of technology to be a handy tool to enhance future public service delivery.