I was listening to radio transmissions at work today. Someone was trying to find someone else and I heard the question “what’s your location?” over the air. Not getting an answer, a minute later he asked, “where’s your location?”
Thanks to the influence of this board, my thoughts on this were to wonder which version of his question was more grammatically correct. “Where?” seems to be more logical, but “what?” seems to be the more common usage. Is there some underlying grammatical principle I’m missing or is this just a common misusage?
“Where” means “in/at/to what place,” which could also be rendered as “in/etc. what location.” So “Where is your location” is redundant. If you eschew the economy of “Where are you?”, “What is your location” is the thing to say. “In what location (where) is your location” sounds, well, stupid.
I just seems that the literal answer to “what is your location?” is “it’s the place I am currently at” while the answer to “where is your location?” would elicit the information the questioner actually wants.
“Why is the reason” is obviously wrong, but people often say “the reason why…” instead of “the reason that…” so your example is not 100% clear cut.
However I would favour “what is your location?” or “where are you?” and not “where is your location?” I am interested that the OP’s instincts favour “where…” as the logical option.
“Why” means “for what reason;” we say “what is the reason” or “why” but not “why is the reason.” We can also say “the reason why.”
“When” means “at what time;” we say “what is the time” or “when,” but not “when is the time.” We can also say “the time when.”
“Where” means “at what location*;” we say “what is the location” or “where,” but not “where is the location.” We can also say “the location where.”
*Most of us use “place” more commonly than “location,” however “place” has so many variations and nuances of meaning that it would be confusing in this example.