Facebook Nearby Friends<br>I see Facebook is introducing some new location fe...

Julian Bond - 2014-05-11 07:30:57+0000 - Updated: 2014-05-11 07:37:34+0000

Facebook Nearby Friends
I see Facebook is introducing some new location features that let you publish a rough location and to see rough locations for your friends, especially the ones within a small radius.
https://www.facebook.com/help/629537553762715/

And like Google Plus, it's iOS/iPhone and Android only. For some bizarre reason it's unavailable from laptops, Chromebooks, or other devices. There's no desktop browser or mobile browser interface. Why? I can understand a small company with limited resources only rolling out a new feature on certain platforms. But why do these big companies only do half the job?

Location does seem to be something that everyone assumes is only interesting from a smart phone. That just assumes:- - Nobody travels with a laptop. And yet I still see people using laptops in cafes and out on the road
- Chromebooks aren't portable and used on the road. But they are.
- Nobody would ever want to get an overview on a real browser. But then why is the big browser version of Google Maps used so much.
- That people never want to add a location to a post when using the most convenient interface for long form posts; The Browser version.

I don't get it. Do the people making these decisions and setting the development plans never use a laptop?

Nearby Friends | Facebook Help Centre | Facebook

Rupert Wood - 2014-05-11 10:04:56+0000

I think the main reason it isn't generally available for desktop browsers is that the only way to get a location is via IP, which isn't often particularly accurate.
You used to be able to 'fool' G+ into using the mobile site to see the nearby stream on here though, though they do kep breaking the link to it, but I'm not so much a fan since they changed what appears in nearby.
Location sharing on G+ does seem to be pretty good and pretty accurate too (if permitted).

Julian Bond - 2014-05-11 10:18:56+0000

I've found location via Wifi to be excellent. It's good enough at 200m or so. It works fine on the "centre on me" functionality in Maps.

https://plus.google.com/app/basic/stream/nearby?calcloc=1 works fine for me, except that there's not enough posts with geotags so they have to set the radius too large to get a reasonable list.

Facebook seems to work fine with this. Any post has the "add location" button and you can choose from a list or add your own address. If you fool the mobile version of G+ into giving the location field, it kind of works in the same way except you can't add or modify entries in the list.

The one that really puzzles me is Chromebooks. They are very def designed to be portable. But the only interface available to G+ is through the Chrome browser and hence the desktop interface. Google has complete control so can provide location services. So when do Chromebooks start including GPS chips?