Google rolled out its new service called Google Latitude, which allows users to show their location online to all of their friends. The new feature is available in 27 countries, accessible with a PC or a mobile device.
Even though at first the idea of such a service might appear intrusive and potentially dangerous to one’s activities, the company assured its clients that all the security measures have been considered and the new release includes all the options needed to make it safe, useful and fun.
"Fun aside, we recognize the sensitivity of location data, so we've built fine-grained privacy controls right into the application," mentioned the company’s officials in a blog post. They explained that users can choose who sees their location and not only that, but also the location that they see.
"What Google Latitude does is allow you to share that location with friends and family members, and likewise be able to see friends and family members' locations," says Steve Lee, product manager for Google Latitude. The location of a certain user can be easily checked on a Google map. In order to gain access to the service, people must have a Google account and a user can select the wanted contacts from his Gmail or Picasa lists.
Google is not the only company offering such a service. Privately-held company Loopt’s services, which can also be accessed by iPhone users, are offered by companies such as Verizon Wireless. There are also other competitors such as BrightKite, Tripit, Dopplr and MobilFriends. Yahoo is also offering a service called Fire Eagle, which delivers a mechanism designed to centralize people's geographic privacy choices. Unlike the rest, Google and Loopt assure their clients that there is no stored history for their movements, which represents a great plus for their services. BrightKite’s policy, for example, mentions that in the event of a sale, merger or any other such happening "we may not be able to control how your personal information is treated."
One of the reasons why these details should be kept safe and deleted from time to time is to avoid the abuses made by marketing companies, which use the data to send all sorts of ads and announcements – something that not all customers are very fond of.
The service could turn out to be extremely useful for many users, as it provides a great tool for staying in touch, without the need to talk over the phone, online messaging or any other similar form of contact. Considering Google’s popularity, Latitude will attract quite a crowd and will surely be tried out by many of the company’s clients and fans.
Latitude works on Research In Motion Ltd's Blackberry and on devices running on Symbian S60 or Microsoft Corp's Windows Mobile and also on some T-1 Mobile phones running on Google's Android software. The company announced that it will soon release an update in order to open the software for Apple’s iPhone, iTouch and some of Sony Ericsson’s devices.
