Read all about how to get the user's location at the Google Maps API v3 documentation here:
http://code.google.com/apis/maps/documentation/javascript/basics.html#DetectingUserLocation
It does not matter if the source is a GPS sensor or something else--you still get it the same way. It seems to me that the documentation there answers all four of your questions, more or less.
Here's the relevant sample code from that page:
// Note that using Google Gears requires loading the Javascript
// at http://code.google.com/apis/gears/gears_init.js
var initialLocation;
var siberia = new google.maps.LatLng(60, 105);
var newyork = new google.maps.LatLng(40.69847032728747, -73.9514422416687);
var browserSupportFlag = new Boolean();
function initialize() {
var myOptions = {
zoom: 6,
mapTypeId: google.maps.MapTypeId.ROADMAP
};
var map = new google.maps.Map(document.getElementById("map_canvas"), myOptions);
// Try W3C Geolocation (Preferred)
if(navigator.geolocation) {
browserSupportFlag = true;
navigator.geolocation.getCurrentPosition(function(position) {
initialLocation = new google.maps.LatLng(position.coords.latitude,position.coords.longitude);
map.setCenter(initialLocation);
}, function() {
handleNoGeolocation(browserSupportFlag);
});
// Try Google Gears Geolocation
} else if (google.gears) {
browserSupportFlag = true;
var geo = google.gears.factory.create('beta.geolocation');
geo.getCurrentPosition(function(position) {
initialLocation = new google.maps.LatLng(position.latitude,position.longitude);
map.setCenter(initialLocation);
}, function() {
handleNoGeoLocation(browserSupportFlag);
});
// Browser doesn't support Geolocation
} else {
browserSupportFlag = false;
handleNoGeolocation(browserSupportFlag);
}
function handleNoGeolocation(errorFlag) {
if (errorFlag == true) {
alert("Geolocation service failed.");
initialLocation = newyork;
} else {
alert("Your browser doesn't support geolocation. We've placed you in Siberia.");
initialLocation = siberia;
}
map.setCenter(initialLocation);
}
}