Share with Latitude

Google Maps is handy for more than just viewing maps and providing directions; it’s also excellent for sharing your current location with friends. Sharing is the basis of a whole new category of social-networking applications, and Google is joining the party with its own entry.

Google Latitude (www.google.com/latitude) is a social-networking service that plots your friends’ locations on a map (Figure 6.17)—a handy way to see who’s out and about. With it, you can text, instant-message, or call any of your friends who are nearby. This feature is only as good as the number of your friends who use it, so to make it successful, you need to invite your friends to share your data and hope that they reciprocate.