Re: Address object on the Position object

On Mon, Jun 27, 2011 at 11:33 AM, Doug Turner <doug.turner@gmail.com> wrote:

> I am not sure if we need AddressOptions -- it might be interesting if
> one could specify accuracy desired, but I am tempted to just assert
> that the implementation should give the best available result.


One advantage of providing optional accuracy/precision specification in
requests for the civic address (instead of always returning the best
available result) is that it could enable privacy-preserving requests where
a site only asks for the detail that it needs; i.e. data minimization. I
believe this was discussed in the past as potentially easier than
implementing a fuzzing algorithm for decreasing the accuracy of
latitude/longitude responses. Algorithms for "fuzzing" civic address would
just amount to truncation/nullifying certain fields, and the concept would
be fairly straightforward for the end user to understand.

There's also some precedent for sites requesting different levels of civic
address precision and users providing different levels of permission: Geode
did it that way, the Fire Eagle API does this, even the Latitude API
provides best vs. city-level access. This would let a web site that just
wanted to show you local weather or nearby movie showtimes request less
information and still provide you the same service.

Of course, to have this particular minimization effect we would want the
Address to be requested in a different manner than first requesting the
precise lat/lon and then running it against a Geocoder interface. Could we
put getAddress() on navigator.geolocation and have it initiate a lat/lon
lookup if the browser doesn't have a fresh enough location? (It also might
be possible for a site to request and a browser to provide civic address
even when lat/lon coordinates aren't available -- for example if I stored my
manually-entered home address in my browser on my desktop computer.)

Thanks,
Nick

P.S. Sorry I'm missing the discussions in Oslo! I may try to follow on IRC
tomorrow if I can stay up late, or wake up early, enough.