CODEWITHSUNDEEP
htmlgeolocationw3c-geolocation
Manuel Ebert
Manuel Ebert

Reputation: 8509

What exactly does "accuracy" mean in HTML5 geolocation?

When using the HTML5 geolocation API I get, apart from latitude and longitude, also the "accuracy of the location in meters". What exactly does that mean (meters is not a unit of accuracy)?

I assume it shall be read as "with probability p the request was made within a meters of the returned location" - if so, what is p? Is it one standard deviation (p = 0.682?) Two standard deviations (p = 0.956?)

http://dev.w3.org/geo/api/spec-source.html isn't really explicit either.

Upvotes: 9

Views: 1740

Answers (1)

tucuxi
tucuxi

Reputation: 17945

Quoting from the spec:

The accuracy and altitudeAccuracy values returned by an implementation should correspond to a 95% confidence level.

So, 95% confidence level it is. Then again, implementations can vary significantly in what they report...

Upvotes: 8

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