Q: Location services with mavericks
When I try to determine my location on my iMac, I get a message stating that my location could not be determined. Any ideas?
iMac (27-inch, Late 2013), OS X Mavericks (10.9.2)
Posted on Jun 14, 2014 11:57 AM
You and your provider have nothing to do with it.
There is a database somewhere inside Apple which knows the locations of lots of Wireless Access Points around the world. When you enable location services, your Mac requests a location from that database based on the Wireless AP's it sees around your (the one you are connected to and any others it can "see"). If none of those access points are known to Apple, then it won't be able to locate your computer.
You don't have a GPS or Cellular phone chip in your Mac. It cannot derive the location on its own. It has to ask Apple's servers, and those servers must know the location of at least one base station that your Mac can "see."
Making any sense, now?
Posted on Jun 14, 2014 5:18 PM