More evidence that geolocation is still broken. Today when I clicked on Bing Maps saw this for the first time. And BTW, Bing maps constantly clears the location I set in settings, no idea why. I've reported this several times in Bing's feedback.
Location Issue on my laptop with Windows 11
From my Microsoft Account profile page, if I click "Find my device" or "Show my location" in Bing Map (Default map comes with Windows) it shows my current location in Seattle, even though my laptop is in Toronto Canada. However, if I open my browser and open Bing map or Google Maps, it shows my correct location. Also to solve this issue I tried reinstalling Windows twice, using a VPN to set my location the same as where I live, I ran Windows troubleshooter multiple times. I can't think of any more troubleshooting steps on my own.
System information:
System Model: ASUS TUF Gaming A17 FA706QM_FA706QM
Windows 11 Pro / 23H2 / OS Build: 22631.3296
Windows for home | Windows 11 | Security and privacy
Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.
53 answers
Sort by: Oldest
-
Anonymous
2024-06-16T11:33:34+00:00 -
Anonymous
2024-06-16T19:57:49+00:00 Ditto. Seems the Edge update and other posts I/we tried are only temporary fixes. My Time Zone just updated again putting me back to Central time vs. Pacific time where I live. And yes, there is a cross-platform impact w/Google searches as my iPhone now gets confused as to whether I am in Olathe, KS (Central) or Sacramento, CA (Pacific) bases on historical google search activity for the same user. Microsoft - what exactly are we to try now?
-
Rob Koch 26,170 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
2024-06-16T20:55:37+00:00 Ditto. Seems the Edge update and other posts I/we tried are only temporary fixes. My Time Zone just updated again putting me back to Central time vs. Pacific time where I live. And yes, there is a cross-platform impact w/Google searches as my iPhone now gets confused as to whether I am in Olathe, KS (Central) or Sacramento, CA (Pacific) bases on historical google search activity for the same user. Microsoft - what exactly are we to try now?
Maggiekev,
Your specific description is sounding far more like this particular set of changes that Google and Apple have been making at the same time Microsoft is rolling out tier own changes to their location services and privacy.
Google’s Online Location Tracking Ends In December—Here’s What That Means
As Google deletes all of this online location tracking data, it's bound to create some strange anomalies, especially related to cross-device location tracking that uses your device fingerprints and other data that's been correlated in your timeline in the cloud, leading to your device's location being bounced all over the place as those past relationships are broken.
Problem is that typical users always relate these only to the app or platform they're currently using, and since they understand none of the insidious tracking that's been going on from Google and others for years and decades, they point fingers without any of the knowledge necessary to confirm that's where the problem truly lies.
I can't clearly state the answer to each of your particular anomalies, because I only know to what extent I've spent the last couple decades trying to block most of this tracking myself. Unlike most, I prefer to only set my own location manually and have disabled this useless 'feature' for nearly the entire time, along with blocking every Google cookie or other tracking item possible on every platform, since I'll decide what I wish to search for and precisely where and when. That's why this situation has been less of a concern for me, since I've never really depended on it.
I suspect that the truth here is really somewhere in the middle of all of these various changes we've discovered, which since you're using a Microsoft Windows platform, you're consistently blaming on Microsoft, which based on your own discovery that your iPhone device is changing as well, is quite obviously not completely accurate and in fact most likely just plain wrong.
My own location display has remained quite consistent during this period, with any breakage more clearly affected by the configuration changes I make, probably due to the fact I've never let Google, Microsoft or anyone knowingly retain any of this information, even if they were able to collect it.
Rob