Just because the Internet has broken down geographic barriers, don't assume that Google doesn't care about geography. The company plans to launch software called Latitude, that lets mobile phone users share their location with close contacts. Google hopes it will help people find each other while out and about, and to keep track of loved ones.
"What Google Latitude does is allow you to share that location with friends and family members, and likewise be able to see friends and family members' locations," said Steve Lee, product manager for Google Latitude. For example, a girlfriend could use it to see if her boyfriend has arrived at a restaurant and, if not, how far away he is.
To protect privacy, Google specifically requires people to sign up for the service. People can share their precise location, the city they're in, or nothing at all. "What we found in testing is that the most common scenario is a symmetrical arrangement, where both people are sharing with each other," Lee said. Google hopes its mapping technology will lead to location-based advertising revenue. Google's power is firmly lodged in search and search advertising, but the company is trying to expand to broader online services, too. That includes online documents and various aspects of social networking, which are much more personal services and ones that put Google into more direct competition with rivals such as Microsoft, Facebook, and Yahoo. Like using Google profiles to contact information with select contacts, using Google Latitude tells Google who's who in your social graph.
