Ever had that problem where you simply cant find you friends anywhere, or want to simply ask them where they are? well thanks to the new Google service called Google Latitude you can.
Google Latitude is a feature of Google Maps that allows you to see where your friends and via Google Map and is available on the following mobile devices - Windows Mobile 5.0+ devices, Android Powered devices, Blackberry and the iphone. Worth noting iPhone fans that it isn’t available on iphone yet.
Watch the Google Latitude video for more:
Earlier today I tried to using Google Latitude on my blackberry and it is proving to be a nightmare to install, well thats what I initially thought. If you wish to install it simply download the latest version of Google maps on your mobile and it should be that easy.
Alternatively you can simply go to www.google.com/latitude on your mobile device and download it through there.
Sometime last year, when Apple launched the Development Kit for Apple iPhone, one of the application that they demonstrated was Loopt. Loopt is a similar product to Google Latitude and is very popular in the US. Unfortunately, Loopt is not available in the UK, yet!
Overall, there are many upsides to the Google Latitude function and think it works for many people on a social level. Imagine how easy it is to locate where your friends are and meet for a coffee, lunch, dinner or even a movie. The big question from my view is, how many people would be willing to "share" their exact location with friends or colleagues? I'm sure this might prompt another privacy debate, however since we already share a lot of our personal experiences on Facebook and MySpace would Google Latitude be much of a threat?
I think the privacy issue has been dealt [to a degree] with by Google by allowing you to manually input your location should you choose to have, say your partner think you're at work, when you are really prowling the streets of Soho!
ReplyDeleteThere is also a privacy option for each of you contacts, so you can decide which of your 'friends' can see where you are on latitude.