Windows 7 has an excellent built-in platform and API which can help third party developers to create native applications for Windows 7 that are location-aware. However, the only mistake Microsoft has made with ‘Location and Sensors’ in Windows 7 is that they did not include any geolocation service provider.

But the scenario has changed now. Long Zheng of istartedsomething teamed up with Rafael Rivera of Within Windows to create a new Windows Sensor called Geosense for Windows, that connects the location platform of Windows 7 with geolocation service providers and works like a GPS system. Instead of communicating with satellites (not many PCs have GPS hardware), it simply gathers some metrics including your IP address, Wi-Fi triangulation or access points to determine the location. Geosense uses Google Location Services to provide location information.

The beauty of this Windows Sensor is that developers can create location aware Windows 7 applications on top of it. And did we mention it’s free?

Thanks to Geosense, we can expect a Foursquare app and the likes very soon for Windows 7!

Download Geosense for Windows

via – istartedsomething