[Int-area] Discovering a Location Server in the Access Network

Hi all,

I would need some feedback regarding work that is currently being done 
in the GEOPRIV working group.
For some time we have been working on an application layer protocol that 
allows the end host to obtain its own location information (or a 
reference to it) from a server (called LIS) in the access network. This 
LIS indeed needs to be located in the access network (and not at an 
arbitrary place on the Internet) since only the layer 2/layer 3 provider 
is able to determine the precise location of end point.

A year ago I lead a design team that captured the problem statement and 
requirements. The document is available here:
http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-geopriv-l7-lcp-ps-05.txt

The protocol that provides the functionality of the above-mentioned 
requirements document is HELD:
http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-ietf-geopriv-http-location-delivery

Providing the end host with the address of the LIS is relatively easy if 
you can use DHCP. However, there are deployment environments (such as 
DSL networks) where the DSL operator cannot control the DSL home routers 
and any information that is provided by the DSL operator may not be 
relayed to the end host via this box.

So, to overcome this issue the group had an idea: Let's use a different 
discovery technique that does not require upgrades to intermediate 
devices (such as this DSL home router).

In short, the current proposal (see 
http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-thomson-geopriv-lis-discovery-02.txt; 
ignoring Section 2 which defines the DHCP portion) essentially does the 
following:

* Discover the public IP address of the end point
* Perform a reverse DNS lookup to learn the domain
* Lookup the LIS for that domain
* Contact the LIS

We have investigated other solutions as well (see Section 4 of  
http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-geopriv-l7-lcp-ps-05.txt) 
but the group (or at least a few folks) believes that this is a "good" 
approach.

I had a chat with Jari and we both agree that this topoic falls into the 
expertise of the Internet Area. Hence, I would like to solicit feedback 
from you.

Ciao
Hannes

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