Google Latitude

Two warnings precede this information today.  First, I like most Google products and am a big Google supporter (read prejudiced).  Secondly, I work for Ntelos Wireless. Since I am going to mention phones I should warn you of any other possible prejudice.  When I talk about smartphones, etc. I am giving my personal experience not corporate information.

Now let’s get to the fun stuff.  Google is a great source of interesting, informative and OK, just plain fun applications you can get for free…at least most are free.  The one we will look at today scares some people.  I am in the camp of those others who could care less.  I imagine if you are a terrorist on the run from the Department of Homeland Security you would have an issue or two with Google Latitude.  But if you are a normal boring individual like me you do not mind it much.

Basically, if you install it on your smartphone, tablet pc, etc. (from your device’s marketplace) you can give your mapped location to only those you choose.  You can also hide your location whenever you choose.  The entire world will not be able to see your location, only your chosen "stalkers".  In my case only my wife and a couple of good friends can see where I am at any given time.  I only have one girlfriend and I’m married to her, so I don’t ever need to hide my location. 

Before anyone can view your location, you must either accept an invitation from them asking you to add them as a friend or you must request they share their location with you.  Then you must chose to either "Share best available location", which gives your most accurate location or "Share only city level location," which shows them the general area you are in, but nothing specific.  And of course, you can remove a person from your list and not share anything with them.

How close they are able to get to your location depends on the quality of your phone and how well Latitude is behaving.   Occasionally I will check it for fun when my wife and I are in the same location.  It has shown us to be over a mile apart but usually it is accurate to within 25-50 feet.  Hey, it is free what do you expect?

If I know my wife is leaving somewhere and I am going to meet her somewhere else I can follow her path on Latitude and ascertain her approximate location.  This helps me get there on time.  Of course, I could also call her but that just isn’t the geek way to do things now, is it? 

The last thing I will mention today is that you can go online to "google.com/latitude" and log into your Latitude account.  From there you can choose Friends, Location History or Check-ins.   Friends shows where your friends are which is pretty obvious.  The Location History gives you just that, where you have been. If you go to DoubleClicks.info you can see where I’ve been for the last 30 days.  Check-ins are neat too.  When you go somewhere you can set Latitude on your phone to remind you to check-in where you stop for a while.  You can add a picture to it, a comment or just check-in.  I just checked in where I am enjoying a pastry and my fourth cup of java.  Where do you think I may be?