Google upgrades Maps to include Google Latitude location sharing
Posted on 04 February 2009, at 6:50 am, by Wayne Schulz
Google today updated their mobile and desktop Maps product to add a new feature called Google Latitude. With the new option you can see your friends’ locations and status messages on a map or in a list (hopefully a full integration to Twitter/Facebook is in the works). You’ll also be able to communicate with friends via text messages, IM or phone. Naturally you can control where your location (you do not need to specify it exactly) and exactly who gets to see it. The mobile service is available for Android, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile 5.0+, Symbian S60. iPhone and Touch support is listed as coming soon.
On the desktop Google Latitude is integrated to iGoogle. Beware — it seems you can automatically add your Google Contacts to your Latitude map but each and every one gets an annoying invitation when you do so.
Have you ever counted the number of times you ask friends “where are you?” in a given day? Well, Google is aiming to help answer this question before it needs to be asked. Today we’ve launched Google Latitude, a feature in Google Maps for mobile and iGoogle that allows you to share your location with your friends and family. While it won’t pinpoint your exact location, it gives you a good idea of where your friends are at a given time.
Using your Google account, you can opt into the feature, and then invite friends and family to join Google Latitude. Once they accept, you will see their profile picture appear on a map through your mobile device or your desktop PC. So imagine if you spot your friend in the same neighborhood as you on the map, using Google Latitude you can then click on their icon to call, text, IM or email them. We can also give you directions to their location on the map.
And of course, we thought long and hard about making sure users have complete control over how and when they want to be found. Once you’ve shared your location, you can hide it from individual friends or all of your friends at once, or you can turn off Google Latitude completely at any time. You can adjust your privacy settings in Latitude so that you share as much or as little about your location as you want, with whom you want.
Is this a Brighkite killer? For those of you who think Brightkite has any type of business model whatsoever (I don’t) — Yes, this should finish off Brightkite within the next 12 months.
Is this a Twitter killer? Maybe. For now I’ve not seen a way to integrate Twitter status streams to the Google Latitude service. Hopefully they’ll soon add this ability as well as integration to other sites like Friendfeed and Facebook
Google Latitude
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February 4th, 2009 at 12:13 pm
Stick a fork in half the "where am I" sites — they're cooked, cooked, cooked.
February 4th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
Not until Google Latitude gets (the information about its/a) API (published) it won't. But that can't be far off…
February 4th, 2009 at 2:43 pm
This looks interesting, and I totally agree with you. Anytime Google takes something on, it seems like the "other's" days are numbered. I'm checking this out now.
February 4th, 2009 at 3:52 pm
I like this idea and it's intriguing on a number of levels.
First, Google just ditched a bunch of "projects" because they weren't making money.
Would they have started this project if they didn't expect to make money or expand it? (my guess is no).
Down the road we'll absolutely see opt-in for coupons, discounts, etc based on your location showing on a map. The advertiser will not be privy to this but there will probably be some incentive to the users to keep themselves logged into the Google Latitude.
This is probably the angle Google expects to take rather than dabble in the trendy and unprofitable social media space — and probably why you don't see them making a bid for Twitter and/or Friendfeed. Both nice services but no profit model on the horizon.