So i saw a couple previous questions like this one such as this one, but that was a reasonable length of time ago and was wondering if there is still no way to get the device location WITHOUT the user saying their location explicitly.
So: "What movies are being played?"
Compared to: "What movies are being played in Austin"
I know 'Uber' and other high-end companies have access to Amazon's own private API (I'm guessing) to gather this information where the user doesn't have to specify their location explicitly.
Is it still not possible?
No, that has not changed.
There are built-in's to help you, eg.
"Announcing New Alexa Skills Kit (ASK) Features: Built-In Intents and Slot Type for US Cities" https://developer.amazon.com/blogs/post/Tx4DUAGXZXZ5A6/announcing-new-alexa-skills-kit-ask-features-built-in-intents-and-slot-type-for-us-cities
And there are related feature requests to add more of the above (eg. for UK and Germany) and to provide some sort of more automated manner of getting the user's location. It is certainly a popular request and Amazon knows it, but nothing so far.
Update 2017-04-05. The answer changed today - see Amazon's blog post about their new Device Address API.