Matt Bauman

Tracking the ISS

02 July 2011

iPhone Geolocation Bookmarklets Part II

The suite of new MS fonts

Back when I wrote about creating iPhone bookmarklets that automagically grab GPS location, I lamented that you’re unable to easily bookmark them within an iOS device or save them as web apps. A few friends were pestering me about the using the GPS-enabled Heavens Above link to track the ISS, so I quickly threw together something here on my website. The webpage http://mbauman.com/iss will simply request your location and forward you on to Heavens Above’s ISS tracking page.

The page itself is extraordinary simple. It uses entirely client-side processing; no data is logged. I only use your location to point to the correct URL to Heavens Above. The only little bit of fanciness involved is that it detects if you’re on an iPhone or iPod and then displays instructions on how to add to your homescreen. There’s a nice homescreen icon to go along with it. That said, it also works quite nicely with relatively advanced desktop browsers.