Google 'Latitude' Location Tracking Coming to iPhone

This sounds terrible, my GF does not need to know where I am...

It's OPTIONAL.

Stage One in the Big Brother process:

Optional Beta Testing

I love this idea... so cool. This is going to get so many people fired & divorced...

Frits said:

It's OPTIONAL.

Click to expand...

A really BAD option, hahaha. But handy to find where my friends are at the bar when they get lost....

Something makes me think this is going to make headlines someday...in a bad way. Something like "Stalker Uses 'Latitude' To Kidnap Ex-Girlfriend."

I wonder if Loopt has Poopt their pants as a result of Google entering their space.

Instead of the classic pop-in lines "I was in the neighborhood" or "I saw your light was on," now it'll be "Latitude told me you'd be here." There will be no escape now!

Google is watching you!

Most of the time I will opt out. But in certain cases, being able to enable this would be great.

In particular, when I'm in a large area (park, zoo, shopping district, hiking trail, campus, parking lot) with friends and we split up. With Latitude we could find each other again when we want to, without making a big production out of choosing a time and place and calling all parties.

kramden88 said:

Instead of the classic pop-in lines "I was in the neighborhood" or "I saw your light was on," now it'll be "Latitude told me you'd be here." There will be no escape now!

Click to expand...

And you could use Latitude, but still SAY the old excuses. "I was in your tree and saw you were done with your shower." "I was on your roof and heard you get off the phone." Etc.

Cool app. I can see how this may cause some problems if the significant other demands you to declare your location.

Anyways, it would be nice to be able to IM from this app. I wonder if push is going to implemented with it confused or it will run in the background.

I just hope the GPS works well with it. I have Amigo Mapper and the GPS is inaccurate with this app - depending on how often it checks your location. With every 20 second checking, it takes about 1.5 minutes to get a good GPS reading.

i wonder if this will eventually take over loopt and similar programs. Google is so big, they have the resources to do what they want.

NewSc2 said:

Google is watching you!

Click to expand...

Exactly. So let's sum it up:

1) Google knows what sites you visit
2) Google knows who emails you and who you email
3) Google knows who your friends and family are
4) Google knows WHERE you and your friends are
5) Google knows ALL!

Welcome to planet Google!

-Kevin

I notice the map in the video is of downtown Cairo, where GPS on the iPhone is officially banned by the Egyptian gov.

Cheeky.

this is a great idea..., but i wish i could disable it anytime I WANT.

I dont want google and my friends to know where i am all the time!

And the point of this is....???

The best use I can see coming is having parents track their party hungry teenage kids..

How useful is this without the ability to run in the background? And how well does it work when my phone is in my pocket? It seems like without both those things, this wouldn't work very well.

I'd want it integrated into the iPhone's own Maps app. One stop for all mapping needs.

kas23 said:

Cool app. I can see how this may cause some problems if the significant other demands you to declare your location.

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If you have that kind of significant other, you have serious problems already... regardless of what software they use.

leandromp said:

this is a great idea..., but i wish i could disable it anytime I WANT.

I dont want google and my friends to know where i am all the time!

Click to expand...

As the FAQ explains, you can disable it--in fact it IS disabled unless you wish to turn it on. And you can even choose which friends can see you, or report a location that isn't true. (Show you at work when you're really out on the lake sailing, etc.)

maknik said:

How useful is this without the ability to run in the background? And how well does it work when my phone is in my pocket? It seems like without both those things, this wouldn't work very well.

Click to expand...

Good point--although you and your friends who are at a certain event (which is how I'd use it) could agree to turn it on. Still, it would be nice if Apple put this in Maps, and made periodic updates (every 30 seconds?) continue when the app is "closed." Apple's own apps have such privileges. A menu bar icon could remind you that you've left it on.

best of all: just don't use it !

kbmb said:

Exactly. So let's sum it up:

1) Google knows what sites you visit
2) Google knows who emails you and who you email
3) Google knows who your friends and family are
4) Google knows WHERE you and your friends are
5) Google knows ALL!

Welcome to planet Google!

-Kevin

Click to expand...

This is precisely why Lucius Fox quit Google.

Faraday said:

I notice the map in the video is of downtown Cairo, where GPS on the iPhone is officially banned by the Egyptian gov.

Cheeky.

Click to expand...

remember, the video is not for the iphone.

nagromme said:

I'd want it integrated into the iPhone's own Maps app. One stop for all mapping needs.

Click to expand...

I'm hoping for that too. I don't want Google Maps, Google Earth, Google App, AND Google Latitude now on my phone. I'm hoping some (or all) can be combined.

nagromme said:

As the FAQ explains, you can disable it--in fact it IS disabled unless you wish to turn it on. And you can even choose which friends can see you, or report a location that isn't true. (Show you at work when you're really out on the lake sailing, etc.)

Click to expand...

Wow -- so instead of people worrying that this will foil their plans to cheat on their significant other, this app can now AID them in their cheating -- by showing them somewhere where they're not? Wow... ;-)

This is a new feature?

Rojo said:

I'm hoping for that too. I don't want Google Maps, Google Earth, Google App, AND Google Latitude now on my phone. I'm hoping some (or all) can be combined.

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That would be great, but then you'd get the 'bloatware' crowd complaining.