CoreLocationCLI

CoreLocationCLI gets the physical location of your device and prints it to standard output. If you move it can also print your updated location. Kill it with CTRL-C.

Note for Mac users: make sure Wi-Fi is turned on. Otherwise you will see kCLErrorDomain error 0.

Usage

CoreLocationCLI -h
CoreLocationCLI [-follow] [-verbose] [-format FORMAT]
CoreLocationCLI [-follow] [-verbose] -json

Switch Description

-h Display this help message and exit

-follow Continually print location

-verbose Show debugging output

-format FORMAT Print a formatted string with the following specifiers

-json JSON output mode

Format Description

%latitude Latitude (degrees north; or negative for south)

%longitude Longitude (degrees west; or negative for east)

%altitude Altitude (meters)

%direction Degrees from true north

%speed Meters per second

%h_accuracy Horizontal accuracy (meters)

%v_accuracy Vertical accuracy (meters)

%time Time

%address Reverse geocoded location to an address

%name Reverse geocoded place name

%isoCountryCode Reverse geocoded ISO country code

%country Reverse geocoded country name

%postalCode Reverse geocoded postal code

%administrativeArea Reverse geocoded state or province

%subAdministrativeArea additional administrative area information

%locality Reverse geocoded city name

%subLocality additional city-level information

%thoroughfare Reverse geocoded street address

%subThoroughfare additional street-level information

%region Reverse geocoded geographic region

%timeZone Reverse geocoded time zone

%time_local Localized time using reverse geocoded time zone

The default format is: %latitude %longitude.

Output examples

./CoreLocationCLI

50.943829 6.941043

./CoreLocationCLI -format "%latitude %longitude\n%address"

50.943829 6.941043
Kaiser-Wilhelm-Ring 21
    Cologne North Rhine-Westphalia 50672
    Germany

./CoreLocationCLI -json

{"address":"407 Keats Rd\nLower Moreland PA 19006\nUnited States","locality":"nLower Moreland","subThoroughfare":"407","time":"2019-10-03 04:10:05 +0000","subLocality":null,"administrativeArea":"PA","country":"United States","thoroughfare":"Keats Rd","region":"<+40.141196,-75.034815> radius 35.91","speed":"-1","latitude":"40.141196","name":"1354 Panther Rd","altitude":"92.00","timeZone":"America\/New_York","time_local": "2019-10-02 23:10:05 -0400","isoCountryCode":"US","longitude":"-75.034815","v_accuracy":"65","postalCode":"19006","direction":"-1.0","h_accuracy":"65","subAdministrativeArea":"Montgomery"}

Installation

Install the latest release using Homebrew with:

brew install cask corelocationcli

Or build from the command line using the Xcode compiler with one of these commands:

xcodebuild # requires Apple Developer account


... or ...

swift build --disable-sandbox -c release # does not require account

Then run your executable from this location:

./.build/arm64-apple-macosx/release/CoreLocationCLI --help

After trying to run CoreLocationCLI for the first time, the process will be blocked by Gatekeeper, and a system dialog will appear which includes

"CoreLocationCLI" can't be opened because it is from an unidentified developer...

To approve the process and allow CoreLocationCLI to run, go to System Preferences ➡️ Security & Privacy ➡️ General, and look in the bottom right corner for a button to click.

After approving CoreLocationCLI, it should run successfully. For more information, see https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202491.

Project scope

This project exists to provide a simple tool for getting a device's location. It is expected that this will be composed with other tools or used directly for testing and logging.

The project maintainer was a victim of kidnapping in his past. Meanwhile his laptop was opened by the captors, at the time CoreLocation CLI could have helped to identify the location of his captors. Since then, he continues to maintain the software, he uses the software so it could collect evidence in this situation again, and he is more careful about not getting kidnapped.

Contributing

Considering the project scope, please report any issues at https://github.com/fulldecent/corelocationcli/issues and recommend a fix if possible.

You can fund the project maintainer at https://github.com/sponsors/fulldecent. Even the most modest contribution will surely be noticed.