Table of Contents
User authorization mechanism: License must be obtained
Error handling: Don't ignore failure situations
Tips: HTTPS is the basic premise
Home Web Front-end H5 Tutorial How to access user's current location with the HTML5 Geolocation API?

How to access user's current location with the HTML5 Geolocation API?

Jul 13, 2025 am 02:23 AM
html5

To get the user's current location, use the HTML5 Geolocation API. This API provides information such as latitude and longitude after user authorization. The core method is getCurrentPosition(), which requires successful and error callbacks to be handled; at the same time, pay attention to the HTTPS prerequisite, user authorization mechanism and error code processing. ① Call getCurrentPosition to get the position once, and an error callback is triggered if it fails; ② The user must authorize it, otherwise it cannot be obtained and may no longer be prompted; ③ Error processing should distinguish between rejection, timeout, location unavailable, etc.; ④ Enable high-precision, set timeout time, etc., and can be configured through the third parameter; ⑤ The online environment must use HTTPS, otherwise it may be restricted by the browser.

How to access user\'s current location with the HTML5 Geolocation API?

To get the user's current location, HTML5 provides the Geolocation API, which is a very practical browser interface. It allows web pages to obtain their geographical location information, such as latitude and longitude, under the premise of user authorization. It is not complicated to use, but there are several key points to pay attention to.

How to access user's current location with the HTML5 Geolocation API?

Basic usage: call navigator.geolocation.getCurrentPosition

The core method is getCurrentPosition() , which will try to get the user's current one-time location data.

 if (navigator.geolocation) {
  navigator.geolocation.getCurrentPosition(
    (position) => {
      console.log("latitude:" position.coords.latitude);
      console.log("longitude:" position.coords.longitude);
    },
    (error) => {
      console.error("Cannot get location", error);
    }
  );
} else {
  console.log("The browser does not support geolocation");
}

This code first checks whether the browser supports the Geolocation API, then calls the getCurrentPosition method, and passes in two callback functions: one handles the successfully obtained location information, and the other handles possible errors.

How to access user's current location with the HTML5 Geolocation API?

Note: This method will not continuously track the location by default. If you need to listen for position changes, use watchPosition() .

User authorization mechanism: License must be obtained

A key point in the Geolocation API is user authorization . When a website requests a location for the first time, the browser will usually pop up a prompt box asking the user whether to allow the shared location.

How to access user's current location with the HTML5 Geolocation API?
  • If the user refuses, the second callback function (Error handler) will be triggered.
  • If the user allows, the first callback function (success handler) is called.
  • Users can also choose "No more inquiry", and they will no longer be able to obtain authorization prompts in the future unless they manually change the browser settings.

Therefore, in actual development, you should pay attention to:

  • Give clear tips to tell users why they need location permissions;
  • Check whether the user has refused authorization;
  • For mobile applications, consider providing a guide to jump to system settings.

Error handling: Don't ignore failure situations

Getting a location is not always successful, and common reasons for failure include:

  • User refuses authorization;
  • Positioning services are not available;
  • time out;
  • HTTPS is not supported (most modern browsers require HTTPS to enable Geolocation);

Therefore, when calling getCurrentPosition , you must pass in the error handling function and give corresponding feedback based on different error codes.

For example:

 function showError(error) {
  switch(error.code) {
    case error.PERMISSION_DENIED:
      console.log("The user rejected the location request");
      break;
    case error.POSITION_UNAVAILABLE:
      console.log("Location information is not available");
      break;
    case error.TIMEOUT:
      console.log("Request timeout");
      break;
    default:
      console.log("Unknown Error");
  }
}

You can also control behavior by setting a third parameter, such as setting the maximum timeout time, whether to enable high precision, etc.

 { 
  enableHighAccuracy: true, // Enable high-precision mode (such as GPS)
  timeout: 5000, // Maximum time of waiting position maximumAge: 0 // No cache position}

Tips: HTTPS is the basic premise

Most modern browsers require your website to use HTTPS to access the Geolocation API. If you are testing locally (such as localhost ), it is usually OK, but when deploying to an online environment, remember to configure the SSL certificate.

Additionally, some browsers (such as Chrome) are increasingly restricting non-secure contexts, so make sure you are using the HTTPS protocol, otherwise you may encounter silent failure or silent problems.


Basically that's it. As long as you pay attention to the authorization process, error handling and protocol requirements, you can successfully use the HTML5 Geolocation API to obtain the user location.

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