Windows 7 Development: Location

The sensors and location platforms in Windows 7 allow applications to adapt to the current environment and change their appearance, feel, and behavior. For example, you can do this:

• Using a mobile PC (such as a laptop or tablet) in the sun-drenched outdoor, the application can increase its brightness and contrast and reduce the bottom color saturation to improve readability. Applications can provide information related to the current location, such as a nearby restaurant. can use 3D acceleration and game manipulators

• Applications can use human behavior sensors

Figure 1

The improved MSDN reader uses ambient light sensors to change contrast, size, and color saturation.

There are many advantages to comparing proprietary solutions for sensors and location platforms:

• Hardware independence: No need to learn and develop specific APIs; All types of sensors are easy to operate.

• Privacy: Because Microsoft believes that sensor information and location data are private and personalized authenticated information, all sensors default to the unavailable state. The sensor can be enabled or turned off at any time through the control Panel. The application may prompt a security request interface to enable the appropriate sensor.

• Application Sharing: Multiple applications can use data from the same sensor at the same time.

• Simple addressing: The Location API allows you to get a location without having to worry about specific mechanisms for acquiring information. The Location API automatically chooses the most accurate sensor information available. There is no need to implement GPS such as NMEA.

Goal

In this hands-on experiment you will learn how to use the Windows 7Location API in your application, including:

• Simultaneous access to the City Address location report (location)

• Get the City address location report asynchronously

• Request authorization from the user when access to location information is not permitted