Microsoft Bot Framework Geolocation

Question

How do I get a users geocoordinates with the Bot Framework? I know I have to use entities but am not sure how to actually get the coordinates and not define them.

Answer 1

Unfortunately, there's no automatic way of getting user's location because it will violate user privacy .

However, you can always request for user's location. Depends on the chat channel they're using, they might be able to send you their location (I tested on telegram )

As a starting point, you might need to read about

How to send location

Sample Code:

var reply = activity.CreateReply();
reply.ChannelData = new TelegramCustomMessage
{
    Method = "sendLocation",
    Parameters = new Parameters
    {
        ChatId = "your_chat_id",
        Latitute = 0,
        Longitute = 0
    }
};

public class TelegramCustomMessage
{
    [JsonProperty(PropertyName = "method")]
    public string Method { get; set; }
    [JsonProperty(PropertyName = "parameters")]
    public Parameters Parameters { get; set; }
}

public class Parameters
{
    [JsonProperty(PropertyName = "chat_id")]
    public string ChatId { get; set; }
    [JsonProperty(PropertyName = "latitute")]
    public float Latitute { get; set; }
    [JsonProperty(PropertyName = "longitute")]
    public float Longitute { get; set; }
}

https://docs.botframework.com/en-us/csharp/builder/sdkreference/channels.html#customtelegrammessages

https://core.telegram.org/bots/api#sendlocation

How to extract geolocation from activity

Sample Code:

if (entity.Type == "Place")
{
    Place place = entity.GetAs<Place>();
    GeoCoordinates geoCoord = place.Geo.ToObject<GeoCoordinates>();
    // geoCoord object will contains Longtitude & Latitude
}  

https://docs.botframework.com/en-us/csharp/builder/sdkreference/activities.html#places

Answer 2

The team just added support to the Framework for location services. Super helpful: https://github.com/Microsoft/BotBuilder-Location