Is there a way to set the physical location of an iMac without connecting to wifi for the purpose of browsing with accurate locations services? I normally connect to ethernet, so without wi-fi turned on, my location is not accurate.

dialabrain wrote:

FWIW, there's no compelling reason not to connect to both Ethernet and Wi-Fi. With Wi-Fi enabled your location is accurate on average within 50ft.

That’s because the Wi-Fi router is usually geolocated, based in other devices with GPS or cellular geolocation reporting their positioning into geolocation databases.

No.

There is no mechanism to enable “high accuracy” geolocation, and any such mechanism would be misused.

A Mac has no GPS or other locating hardware, and its location can only be inferred indirectly, such as by a previously geolocated Wi-Fi network or such, or based on the ISP-provided IP address.

Geolocation by IP address is both more expensive for the ISP to provide increased address accuracy, and a more accurate address is more hazardous for the users involved.

dialabrain wrote:

I was under the impression that one's location was determined by triangulation to nearby Wi-Fi towers.

There are cellular towers, and cellular communications can be used for course positioning. Wi-Fi towers, not so much. Carriers and some ISPs can scatter Wi-Fi around, to offload cellular. But as for ubiquitous Wi-Fi towers, not so much.

Mac lacks cellular communications.

Wi-Fi networks themselves are primarily geolocated by other devices; other devices with positioning hardware. The Wi-Fi network address is then uploaded to a database. Google geolocated a whole lot by a practice known as "war driving", combining that with their street-level video recording efforts. (Google also got in some trouble about what else they recorded here, too.)

Wi-Fi routers typically don't self-report this information to geolocation databases, and what positioning they do use is usually limited to determining their location for permissible Wi-Fi channels and power levels.

FWIW, there's no compelling reason not to connect to both Ethernet and Wi-Fi. With Wi-Fi enabled your location is accurate on average within 50ft.

dialabrain wrote:

And if there aren't any devices with GPS or cellular capabilities such as at my house?

And any such devices have never been connected to this Wi-Fi router?

It’s also possible to geolocate off other nearby Wi-Fi routers, though I don’t know off-hand if Apple is doing that.

And if there aren't any devices with GPS or cellular capabilities such as at my house?

I was under the impression that one's location was determined by triangulation to nearby Wi-Fi towers.

Here's what Wikipedia has to say…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wi-Fi_positioning_system

I guess my impression was slightly off.

You're welcome. I just have both connected.