CODEWITHSUNDEEP
androidcordovageolocationmac-address
Senal
Senal

Reputation: 1610

Getting the geo location by MAC address of the device

Is it possible to get the device location of an android device (mobile phone) in cordova using it's MAC address?

Example: If we send the MAC address of a device, then will we able to get the longitude and the latitude of that MAC address's device, assuming that the particular device's "Access to my location" is "on"?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 7238

Answers (1)

Dagmar d'Surreal
Dagmar d'Surreal

Reputation: 111

I think you're a bit confused about what the relationship between MAC addresses and geolocation is. They aren't used to track individual devices this way--the functionality in the Play Store for tracking down a lost device doesn't even use it (directly). It contacts the device over the Internet (provided it's reachable) and asks the device where it thinks it is.

The only relationship MAC addresses have to geolocation is that, in the absence of a good GPS signal (i.e., one that results in a high-accuracy location measurement) the addresses of nearby (within communication range) wireless APs can be used to attempt to determine the device's location. While this isn't as precise or as simple as GPS, it's generally much faster than more accurate and than relying on information from cell towers alone.

It's basically not possible to contact a device over the Internet by MAC address because of IPv4/v6 being the protocol necessary to go from one broadcast domain to another (i.e., one little network to another) and MAC addresses being a layer below that in the protocol stack.

Upvotes: 1

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