Latitude Gives You ‘Big-Brother-like’ Powers

Really want to be in the loop on your friend’s whereabouts? Well, now you can. The Google Mobile Blog reported a new feature. Using Google Latitude you can let your friends see your (mostly) exact location, and status updates on their computer and cell phones.

How Latitude works

This feature is based on the “my location” feature on Google Mobile Maps. By figuring out where you are using GPS, you can not only see your own location yourself, but also share it with the world.

When to use this

Google Latitude, combined with your nosy friends, can be very handy if:

• You arrange to meet a friend, and can’t seem to find each other with regular directions.
• If you are obsessed with letting the world know how you are feeling, and where you are, at all times.
• If you are bored and walking around the city, you can figure out if there is a friend nearby you can invite for an impromptu coffee.

What about privacy?

In a world where everything is becoming increasingly public (thanks to status updates, and people’s need to share the most intimate details with their entire contact list), this is yet another way to know everything about a person. For those who like to hold on to a level of anonymity, don’t worry: this feature is entirely opt-in.

Appropriately, the option to share your location with friends is under the “privacy” tab in your Mobile Maps settings. You can even select a location manually on the map, and thus fool all your friends. I suppose this comes in handy if generally you don’t mind people knowing your coordinates, expect in some cases when your location should be kept private.

There are two ways of using Google Latitude, by adding it to iGoogle, or to your mobile device. Google can either send an sms with a download link, or you can point your mobile browser to google.com/latitude and start sharing your location.

Who is going to be using Google Latitude? I don’t think I will be, partly because my Google Talk really only has a few contacts on it, and I don’t feel the tremendous need for people to know where I am at all times.