Google Latitude gets location history and friend alerts
Google’s location app, Latitude, is getting a bit more horsepower today as it adds location history and alerts for when your friends are near.
Earlier this year, Google launched a mobile phone application called Google Latitude that allowed you to display your current location based on your phone’s GPS to friends. In turn, your friends could also share with you where they were, but one of the big concerns privacy advocates had was that someone could see all of the places you had been. At the time, Google said that it did not store your history at all, but all of that has changed now with the addition of Google Location History.
Google announced today that users now have the option to track the history of where they have been, but only they will have access to that data. You will be able to see where you’ve gone, how long you were there and then view that information either on Google Maps or Google Earth. You can also delete certain portions of the history or clear it all at once if you so choose. You can also play back a step at a time if you like so you can follow your path on a road trip or the such.
It was also announced that you can receive text message alerts when a friend who uses Latitude is near you. Google also thought ahead and the app will learn a user’s normal routine over the course of time so if say a co-worker has enabled the alerts, you won’t receive one every time they walk into the office for the day. It may take a little bit of time for Latitude to learn the routine, but it eventually will.
Both of these features are opt-in, so you don’t have to worry about Google keeping tabs on you unless you choose to. If you would like to enable them, simply go to google.com/latitude/apps and follow the prompts.
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