[Spooky23]

There's a usability aspect to this.

If you disable location services for Yelp, it's pretty unfriendly -- it chooses to make it as difficult as possible for you to use the app to get you to turn location back on. The Google approach for Maps is more pragmatic IMO -- lower resolution location data makes sure I don't get a McDonald's in Finland when I'm in Kentucky.

The hard thing is that I don't want Yelp, Google, etc tracking my movements in a 10-meter radius forever, but I want location from a contextual perspective. I don't think you can do that without meaningful policy controls outside of your local computer.

[ocdtrekkie]

Apple is fixing this in iOS 14. It allows you to give an app access to only approximate location.

Note that if your location history (precise every five minute location stored to your account) is off, Google won't even suggest a locally-stored list of previous locations you used with Maps. Which is an absolutist position that is usability-wise incredibly frustrating.

[inetknght]

> Apple is fixing this in iOS 14. It allows you to give an app access to only approximate location.

I would rather have the ability give a custom location instead.

[ocdtrekkie]

That'd certainly be a nice feature. I'd be happy to tell my phone the address of a well-known public building in my area and have all location-based queries orient from that.

[pfundstein]

1. Download a GPS spoofing app

2. Enable Developer options

3. Select mock location app

4. Spoof your location

[PeterStuer]

Get banned on all location based AR games, of course.

Is this even still possible on current iOS/Android devices?

[strombofulous]

Somehow those apps never seem to work for me.

[boring_twenties]

XPrivacyLua for Android supports this. (Requires root and Xposed framework, though.)

[gruez]

>The hard thing is that I don't want Yelp, Google, etc tracking my movements in a 10-meter radius forever, but I want location from a contextual perspective. I don't think you can do that without meaningful policy controls outside of your local computer.

Isn't this just a separate location permission for coarse location (which both OS), and allowing the user to choose between the two (not on either OS, but in iOS 14 beta)?

[ForHackernews]

Maybe people could just live with having to search: "<query> near <nearby major town>" if they want to get geographically relevant results. It doesn't seem that terrible to me.

[orangecat]

That's terrible for usability, especially since you're almost always going to want better resolution than "anywhere in or around city X".

[ForHackernews]

Maybe you should have to opt-in to handing over all your data, and users who value "usability" over privacy can make an informed choice for themselves.

[FalconSensei]

and then you live in London, ON - Canada, and search for Best places to eat in London... Or you live in the US city of Vancouver instead of Canada and try the same thing...

[ForHackernews]

If only there were some way other than GPS to distinguish between Portland, OR and Portland, ME...

[conception]

And if only cities had subdivisions of /neighboring/ areas.

[troyvit]

I don't have that problem with the yelp app. I turn off location services and search, and yelp lets me select from previously selected locations. Not much help when traveling though.

[bashinator]

Interestingly, I _only_ use Yelp from a desktop browser with location disabled. And yet somehow it's still quite possible to enter my zip code and get accurate results.

[c22]

I do this on mobile. It works fine except Yelp hides the zip code entry by default and the results "spin forever" as if your network is down until you re-select the search box to expose the zip code entry.