Locate your mates with Google Latitude
In 2006 I mentioned a new service from TomTom that would allow you to sign in and track where your mates were using Sat Nav ... as far as I'm aware it didn't really take off.
These days we are all a lot more social and use loads of the new services on our GPS enabled phones to let everyone know where we are. Apps like Brightkite, Foursquare and Gowalla allow us to check into locations and broadcast this to our social networks. A service that has been around for quite some time now, but doesn't seem to have stuck with the masses is Google Latitude.
I've been using the mobile web version Google Latitude since it launched and find it quite handy for letting people know you are ‘on your way’ or how close you are to someone when meeting up. Most of us already have a Google account these days, so another sign up to yet another service is not required. If you keep the mobile webpage or app open it will constantly update your location and not require you to post separate location updates. It also can act as your route planner utilising Google Maps.
I currently use it with an iPhone in car holder as an alternative route planner and find it works quite well .... However, (and this is a big however) with the current iPhone firmware not allowing incoming phone calls while loading data in GPRS mode, this means you will not get any calls while using Google Latitude (obviously using hands free).
I'm using it to get the kettle on just in time for my mate (yes, I only have one) as he pulls up on the drive or gets into work, and I'm hoping he might be reading this and return the favour ;) ... just think how powerful this could be if a had a load of 'mates' that were taxi drivers and I could see if they were passing ... now surely there is an app for that!
