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I've done exactly that with my laptop and my mom's netbook running Ubuntu.

There's a nice trace route by GeoBytes from which you can easily extract itemized location output.

There are other ways to approximate your location when you aren't using wi-fi. As an example, http://www.geobytes.com/ipLocator.htm will give you a location derived from your ISP's. Also, a way to set a location in your Firefox profile would be useful for desktop PCs that rarely move. And I should note that Ubiquity is currently using the MaxMind geo-api (http://www.maxmind.com/app/api) for very similar purposes.

http://www.geobytes.com/ipLocator.htm You can find the rough (city/state) location by going to that site and entering their Public IP address.

The only thing I don't see is talking about knowing where the machines are in the real world

You can map source IP to location. Here is an example: http://www.geobytes.com/IpLocator.htm. I think it gives location of your ISP but that'll be probably good enough.

Yeh yeh, if someone is using VPN it will be off but how many people do that?

What I'm wondering is why they don't use something like an IP address geographical locator in order to determine an approximate location. Yes, technically you could route your call through a tunnel, but 99% of people aren't going to be hiding their true IP address when they're making a phone call. That would work fine for E911 with a decently small margin of error.

At the moment it is a lopsided system which delivers too much power into American hands, but it does actually function.
Though americans account for a majority lot of internet traffic. Take the Geobytes hompage for example:
http://www.geobytes.com/gr.htm?gr&buttonid=16208&v iew=country.
The majority of visitors come from the US.
So shouldn't the country with most of the traffic be the one that controls it?

The internet has all the answers. Just swallow the blue pill:
          http://www.geobytes.com/IpLocator.htm

That site has, without a doubt, the lamest demo ever.

Very cool.

Combine this with Geo-Targeting and it's amazing to know what web sites can find out about you without your consent.

It's like an involuntary a/s/l check from web sites you visit.

Try this

That one has a database, but it doesn't rely on whois data, so it may not infringe the patent. Trying again...

http://www.visualware.com/personal/products/visual route/index.html

Click on live trial and give your email. It seems almost identical to the patent - it runs a traceroute and figures out where each hop is. I have no idea how old it is, or whether it's related to Digital Envoy, though.