Kasper JadePeople familiar with the latest pre-release distributions of the next-gen OS say the software now includes the CoreLocation framework previously available via the iPhone SDK, which will allow Mac applications to identify the current latitude and longitude of the Macs on which they're running.
Since Macs don't include GPS technology like the iPhone 3G, CoreLocation will utilize a Mac's existing networking hardware to triangulate the system's location in a manner similar to the way the original iPhone was able to use the technology to emulate a true global positioning signal.
Meanwhile, those same people say that developers writing applications for Snow Leopard will also gain access to a new set of Cocoa-based programing interfaces for leveraging the multi-touch features of the latest MacBooks and MacBook Pros within their applications.
AppleInsider first revealed plans for the new multi-touch framework in a an article from last June titled "Five undisclosed features of Apple's Mac OS X Snow Leopard."
The report noted that the framework would "consist of code libraries and functions that ordinary developers can use to enhance their applications with the same multi-touch capabilities currently available in Apple-born apps like Safari and iPhoto, and do so with ease."
Word of the new location tools in Snow Leopard comes on the heels of an announcement by Google that it will soon deliver its own software that will let iPhones and Macs broadcast their location information over the Internet.
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But not quite the same tools as Apple will use for the cocoa touch UI on Mac touch. That SDK will come later.
Interesting to see this feature in Mac OS X. Location would be better utilized in portables.
I'm not too sure I like the idea of an app knowing where I'm physically located. What's to stop developers from sending that information back to them?
Apple's Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard operating system will include tools borrowed from the iPhone that let developers determine the geographical location of Macs ...
This is cool stuff, but I hope they allow us to simply set our location manually as well.
I have always found this to be a big of a bug or error on the iPhone. If you are inside a building (and most desktop Macs will be even if they get or are attached to GPS hardware), the iPhone can't determine your exact location. This screws up all the GPS related software to a degree when you are sitting in your own living room.
I can't for the life of me think why there is not a facility to look up your exact co-ordinates and set them as "home" for your computer or at least your Airport. I hate having all that advanced tech in the iPhone only to have every application believe that I actually live in a garage three houses down the street from where I am.
I'm not too sure I like the idea of an app knowing where I'm physically located. What's to stop developers from sending that information back to them?
Ditto.
This sounds eerily Big Brother-ish...