You can manage location settings in Windows 8 through the control panel and the Settings charm.
Simplified location settings
The settings for enabling location in Windows 8 are simplified. Administrators can disable location for all users. Users can enable or disable location for their own profile. And for Windows Windows Store apps, users can apply per-app location settings. Each setting applies to location services as a whole, rather than any individual location provider.
Administrator Settings
The following screen shot shows administrator location settings that are available from the desktop Control Panel. By default, the Windows Location platform is enabled, so that users can choose their own location settings. Administrators can also optionally allow anonymous wireless access point data to be used for improving the Windows Location Provider.
User settings
Geographic location is considered personally identifiable information (PII), so to protect user privacy, location is off by default for each user. The user must enable location services in Control Panel. In Windows 8, the user needs to make only one choice and does not need to have knowledge of specific location providers. By making one selection in Control Panel, the user can enable or disable all available location providers, including the Windows Location Provider.
The following screen shot shows the location setting in Control Panel.
If an administrator has disabled access to location data, the user setting will be disabled in Control Panel, as shown in this screen shot:
Location settings for Windows Windows Store apps
In Windows Windows Store apps, the user can change an app's location settings through the Settings charm, pictured here on the right side of the app:
The Settings charm opens flyouts that provide access to location settings for the app, pictured here:
Dialogs for enabling location
The first time a Windows Windows Store app tries to access location data, the user is prompted to grant location access to the app.
The following screen shot shows the dialog for enabling location from a Windows Windows Store app.
When a desktop app requests access to location data, and the location platform is not enabled, the following dialog allows the user to turn on location services.
Build date: 10/26/2012
