Google Latitude: Location Based Social Networking

Scenario: You know what your social networking friends are doing, but don't know where they are
Solution: Google Latitude lets you see the location of all your friends on a map





If you use Facebook or Twitter you'll know how easy it is to stay up-to-date with what your friends are doing.

But one of the drawbacks is these services don't actually tell you where your pals are hanging around. Your best buddy's Facebook status might read "having a sneaky bevvy at The Glass Onion pub. Great happy hour!".... which sounds like a riot, but if you want to head over and join them for a sickly-sweet nerve settler you have no way of knowing where the pub actually is.


Google Latitude helps solve this problem by allowing you to create a social network that's based on location. Available for both desktop/laptop and - perhaps more usefully - cell phones, Latitude plots your location and your friends location on a map that every member of your network can see.

If you have a GPS enabled cell phone Latitude simply utilizes it to plot your location. If you're GPS-less, Latitude pulls a smart trick by figuring out the three cell phone towers that you're closest too and then triangulating a point to work out where you are.

For those of you who like the idea of a location based social network but don't want all your trips to the off-track betting joint to be broadcast to your friends, don't worry. Google has built-in some privacy features to allow you to stop broadcasting your location, or to enter it manually - which simply means you can make something up.

Location-based social networks aren't for everyone - but if you and your friends are always buzzing around and like to stay connected, this little gem could be worth checking out.

See the video above for a walk-through of some of the Google Latitude features.