iP address showing location puzzle

[fhills]

Puzzling, and disturbing.

On an android tab, chrome browser.

If i open chrome, tap a search into address bar, at the bottom of the page it shows the area of london i am in.

Which me being me i don't like and see no need for.

If I go to whatismyip it shows me as in manchester. Fine by me.

Have looked in both android and chrome settings and I have location switched off.

Eveen odder, if i click on "show precise location" at the bottom of that google page the bit showing my accurate london location disappears and it says that location is unavailable.

There is also the option to "use another account".

IfI select that and then a different account, it again shows close precise real location.

Until i click on "use precise location".
What on earth is going on?

[Kim]

Repeat after me:  IP addresses do not encode location.

Any tool that gives a location based on an IP address is looking it up in a directory, and since IP addresses are not physically determined, this is usually inaccurate.  What's more, different GeoIP directories will give different results.

There are various strategies for a browser to work out where it's physically located.  GeoIP lookup is one.  Obviously Android provides Location Services (based on GPS, cellular positioning, and WiFi), but you can turn that off.  I'm not sure if Chrome will get WiFi network data from the OS, bypassing location services, and look that up in some Google database, but it seems like the sort of thing they'd do (to provide location data on real computers with no GPS or cellular devices).

But I'm not sure exactly what's going on here.  Maybe it's cached something that tells it where it is (eg. where it last got a GPS fix, or where it was when it last saw that WiFi network), but once you try to determine your precise location it invokes Location Services and fails (because you've turned it off)?

[fhills]

Yes Kim I'm not sure either.

As I said location is off - always is.

Despite google maps threatening not to work every time I fire it up if I don't switch location on I never do. And it still works. FFS why should I tell a map where I am? I know where I am and I know where I'm looking for. I only ever put the GPS on for brief amusement when on top of a bus or when on tour.

The location for the bit of London I am in is very precise - named area. It can't be as coincidence.

It is odd as when I for instance go into eventbrite or whatever it is always trying to suggest fun things in Derby or Nottingham. I assume going off the IP as issued by my ISP.

Are you suggesting that maybe I am seeing this odd info through some weird freak but that sites I visit actually cannot?

Any way I can test this?

edit - this comes from not the tab but a chromebook, same area of London, public wifi, whatismyIP showing St Albans, due to it being the Cloud.

Going to that same google page, location is shown as Greater London, until I click on "show precise location", when, as before, it says not available.

[philip]

GPS is separate from Google Location Services. The latter builds a database of GPS, WiFi, cellular from all users/devices and Google uses this database to locate you even if GPS is off. Switching GPS off doesn't disable Google Location Services, there is a separate setting for that: https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/3467281?hl=en&ref_topic=7189122

[fhills]

GPS is separate from Google Location Services. The latter builds a database of GPS, WiFi, cellular from all users/devices and Google uses this database to locate you even if GPS is off. Switching GPS off doesn't disable Google Location Services, there is a separate setting for that: https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/3467281?hl=en&ref_topic=7189122

Is this to do with "location history" philip?

I found a bit referring to that - and the ability to both turn it on/off and to delete the stored history.

[woollypigs]

Also are you logged into Google/Gmail/chrome?

Google will show you, your location but will not share it.

Also depending on how my ISP feel on the day I either live in the outskirts of Manchester or near the centre of Leeds.

[Ben T]

Google uses all sorts of clever tricks to know stuff.
For instance, if I take a picture with my non-GPS-equipped-or-location-knowing DSLR, and upload it to the google cloud, it'll sometimes guess the location based on where my phone was at the time, even though I didn't take it on my phone.

Does it do the behaviour you don't like if you use an incognito tab?

[philip]

Is this to do with "location history" philip?

I found a bit referring to that - and the ability to both turn it on/off and to delete the stored history.

Yes. You may delete your history and switch off the updates, but even that may not stop you being tracked.  If the apps you run on your device are allowed access to the GPS/WiFi/cellular data those apps can pass it to a server and the server can track you. Some OS allow you to control whether individual apps have access to the GPS/WiFi/cellular data.