Latitude adds location tracking to the Google Maps mobile application and to iGoogle on the desktop. You can track yourself and anyone with a Google account who has either installed the latest 3.0 version of mobile Maps or a new iGoogle Latitude gadget. The way it works is that when you start Maps you are prompted if you want to join Latitude and "See your friends on the map". If you accept you are asked for your Google account credentials and then shown a tag list of your Gmail contacts . Check off the contacts you want to share location info with and Google sends each one an email inviting them to join Latitude and share their location with you. If they accept, you can see them on the map and they can see you. Location sharing in Latitude is strictly between friends by mutual consent, it's not possible to share your location publicly. Latitude has the ability to continue sharing your location in the background. When you close the app you are prompted whether to allow this or not. If you decide to allow background sharing I suggest you go into Map's Settings menu and deselect "Use GPS" which will force Maps and Latitude to use cell IDs to locate you which should help battery life considerably.
Google Latitude allows you to send your location to Google Maps and share it with friends via many mobile phones.Previous friend tracking apps have had a hard time growing because there is a lot of friction to the network building process. First you have to know about the service and install the mobile app, then you have convince your friends to do the same, and then everyone needs to run the app all the time. It's hard to create much of a network that way. Virtually everyone knows someone with a Gmail account. The network is huge and Latitude is highly viral in that it offers to invite everyone in your contact list whether they have a Google account or not.Google has big plans for Latitude particularly in the social networking area.The beginnings of a social network are already visible in Latitute. You can set your status and upload a photo from within Maps. Your friend's photos and status appear on the map and their Google profiles are a click away. Latitude also gives you options to connect with nearby friends using Gmail, Google Talk or SMS.
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