^[1]I have a GPS unit to keep me from getting lost while I’m driving, but it doesn’t hook up to my computer. If I wanted to use geolocation applications to show online friends where I was at the moment, I couldn’t do it.   Until now ….

Sathya Bhat ^[2] sent me an email yesterday telling me about a new geo-location solution. Two crazy programmers named Long Zeng ^[3] and Rafael Rivera ^[4] have created a program that identifies where you are by using either your IP address, or Wifi triangulation. The application is called Geosense for Windows, but, it only works in Windows 7 ^[5]. Apparently Windows 7 ^[5] has a built in location sensing API that nobody else is taking advantage of yet.

Here’s how to set it up:

First, go to the home page and download Geosense ^[6] and install it.

To enable Geosense, go to your Start Menu and type location(without quotes) into the search box. Then click on Enable location and other sensors.

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Next place a check-mark in the check-box to enable Geosense.

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Once you’ve clicked Apply, you won’t notice anything new. However, you’ll find that any location aware application you run, will now automatically know where you are.

The Geosense website offers a nice Google Maps test application ^[9] to try out. You can also run the Windows Weather Gadget to find your local weather. Here you can see both of these running on my laptop.

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They also mention that there’s a Twitter application called MahTweets ^[11] which can grab the location and put it into your tweets.

Here’s the Geosense homepage: ^[6] Check it out.

Techie Buzz Verdict:

Geosense is not going to be able to replace my car’s GPS unit, but if I’m on the road, at least I’ll know about where I am, even when I’m away from the car. I did notice that it was only able to give an approximate location, within half a kilometer, so it’s not perfect. It’s a free app that makes excellent use of a previously hidden feature in Windows 7. I love it.

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Techie Buzz Rating: 4/5 (Excellent)