Google may have recently killed off a few projects these last couple of
weeks, but they’re still unveiling innovative, new ones all the time. They've done it again
the announcement of Latitude, the location broadcasting service that combines Google Maps with GPS and cell phone triangulation.
Want to know where your wife is so you can start dinner?
This is the service that will help. Computer-based iGoogle shows a map
with the whereabouts of people who have opted in to location
broadcasting so you can see if she’s still at work or stuck in traffic. The service is set to roll out to smart phones with Windows Mobile,
iPhone, BlackBerry, and naturally, Android. If your Google Maps is
updated to v3.0 or higher, you’ll have it. T-Mobile G1 owners should
look for a system update soon!
As much as we love Loopt, we have to imagine that a majority of its
users are utilizing the app for knowing where their friends and family
are. The Twitter and Facebook integration is great, but we’re guessing
it’s not used as much as they’d like. Google is the kind of company
with mass appeal and built-in fan base to steal away users. Judging by
the video we saw, Latitude seems very easy to understand and set up. For all of the people concerned about privacy, the Latitude service is of course opt-in. You don’t have to
let mom know where you are 24 hours a day unless you want to.
