Google Maps 3.0 has Latitude

04 February 2009, 5:17pm

Users will be able to share their location with friends and family using the new Latitude feature built into the mobile version of Google Maps

Google has added tracking software to its Google Maps service, allowing mobile phone users to share their location with friends and family, and find other contacts who might be nearby.

The new feature, dubbed Latitude, is part of the Google Maps 3.0 software update, and will initially only be available on BlackBerry mobile phones and those devices running the Windows Mobile and Symbian S60 operating systems. It will be rolled out to iPhone and Google Android users in the coming weeks.

Google said that the Latitude service was designed to answer the question most asked by mobile phone users – namely, “Where are you?”. It uses a combination of local phone masts and Wi-Fi internet hotspots to triangulate a users’ approximate position.

Hugo Barra, group product manager for Google Mobile, said that the service would be particularly useful for groups of friends meeting at a party, rock concert, or outdoor event, or even to see how far from home a spouse is so you know when to start cooking dinner.

Once users sign up to Latitude, an icon representing their position, and the position of friends and contacts, will appear on the Google Maps software on their mobile phone. It can even provide directions to help users navigate their way to their friend’s location, and users can click on a friend’s icon to call, text, and email them, or send an instant message. There is also the option to add a “status update”, so that users can see what their friends are doing.

Google Latitude is an opt-in service, which means that mobile phone users will have to give their explicit permission as to whether they want to share their location with friends and contacts.

Users who sign up to Google Latitude using their Google login will be presented with a screen explaining the service, and will then be able to invite friends to share their location in return.

Once a Google Maps user receives a Latitude invitation, they can decide whether to accept the invitation and share their location in return, accept the invitation so they can see where their friend is but not share their own location, or reject the invitation completely.

And even once a user accepts a Latitude invitation and agrees to share their location, they are able to adjust how much information about their location they divulge on a contact-by-contact basis.

The Latitude service will eventually be available on other Google services, such as its iGoogle personalised homepage tool and Google Gears offline synchronisation service.

Based on article by Claudine Beaumont
in Telegraph.co.uk

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Geo: International