[webkit-dev] Multiple location providers in Geolocation API

[Steve Block]

Hi,

I have a question regarding the way in which multiple sources of
location information are handled in the Geolocation API.

The Geolocation API allows the user some choice over which sources of
location information are used in a given request (a call to
getCurrentPosition or watchPosition) through the
PositionOptions.enablehighAccuracy property. Typically this will
equate to whether or not a GPS is used as a source of location
information. Given that multiple requests can execute concurrently,
and that different options can be supplied to each request, this
raises the question of whether a given request should make use of
location data obtained from a source which is enabled by a
concurrently executing request, but not enabled by the request itself.

For example, in the following snippet, should the position passed to
oneShotSuccessCallback make use of the (likely more accurate) position
information obtained by the concurrently executing watch, which has
enableHighAccuracy set to true?

geolocation.watchPosition(watchSuccessCallback, errorCallback,
{enableHighAccuracy: true;});
geolocation.getCurrentPosition(oneShotSuccessCallback, errorCallback,
{enableHighAccuracy: false;});

The obvious argument against this behaviour is that it effectively
ignores the options passed to getCurrentPosition. However, if the
enableHighAccuracy flag is seen simply as a means to conserve
resources such as battery life by excluding certain sources of
location information, using the more accurate position information for
the one-shot request makes sense, as any power-hungry devices are
already running due to the ongoing watch request.

The current code (see below for details) does not allow this
behaviour. My question is, is this design intentional, or should the
code be modified to prevent this behaviour?

Steve


Code details - see WebCore/page/Geolocation and
WebCore/platform/GeolocationService. Only a single GeolocationService
is used, which simply reports position updates to the Geolocation
object without specifying the source of the location data. The
Geolocation object then forwards this to all currently executing
requests, irrespective of the options specified for that request.
FWIW, the Gears Geolocation information does not allow this behaviour.
Gears maintains a mapping between requests and the location sources
used by that request.

On a related note, each time a new request is made, the PostionOptions
for that request are passed to the GeolocationService by calling
startUpdating(PositionOptions*). This allows the GeolocationService to
estimate which location sources are needed (ie whether GPS is to be
used) for all currently executing requests. However, this will always
be an upper bound, as there's no way to remove sources from the list.
Again, is this intentional?

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