Google Latitude
Encyclopedia
Google Latitude is a location-aware
mobile app developed by Google
as a successor to their earlier SMS
-based service Dodgeball
. Latitude allows a mobile phone
user to allow certain people to view their current location. Via their own Google Account
, the user's cell phone location is mapped on Google Maps
. The user can control the accuracy and details of what each of the other users can see — an exact location can be allowed, or it can be limited to identifying the city only. For privacy, it can also be turned off by the user, or a location can be manually entered. Users have to explicitly opt in to Latitude, and may only see the location of those friends who have decided to share their location with them.
students Dennis Crowley
and Alex Rainert. The company was acquired by Google in 2005. In April 2007, Crowley and Rainert left Google, with Crowley describing their experience there as "incredibly frustrating". After leaving Google, Crowley created a similar service known as Foursquare
with the help of Naveen Selvadurai
.
Dodgeball offered a facility to users by way of SMS
. Dodgeball was available for the cities of Seattle, Portland
, San Francisco, Los Angeles
, Las Vegas
, San Diego, Phoenix
, Dallas–Fort Worth
, Austin
, Houston, New Orleans, Miami, Atlanta, Washington, D.C.
, Philadelphia, New York City
, Boston
, Detroit, Chicago
, Madison
, Minneapolis–St. Paul
and Denver.
In January 2009 Vic Gundotra
, Vice President of Engineering at Google, announced that the company would "discontinue Dodgeball.com in the next couple of months, after which this service will no longer be available." Dodgeball was shut down and succeeded in February 2009 by Google Latitude.
as well as user-driven input) and automated location detection on mobile phones using Cellular positioning
, Wi-Fi Positioning
, and GPS.
In November 2009, Google announced a Latitude feature called "Location History" which stores and analyzes a user's location over time, for example attempting to identify a user's home and workplace.
At the end of May 2010, Google announced an API which allows applications to make use of Latitude data, with the user's explicit consent.
, Windows Mobile
, and Symbian S60
.
Initially Google promised on the Latitude page that it would be available for Java ME phones, but this claim was later removed from the site. On most platforms Latitude can continue to update the user's location in the background when the application is not in use, while on others it only updates the user's location when the application is in use.
The Sony Ericsson W995
, C905
, C903, C510, Elm and Satio mobile phones support Google Latitude as part of their built-in Google Maps
application. Although this is a Java ME application, it cannot be downloaded for use with other mobile phones.
As of early 2011, Google Latitude now optionally records a history of places visited and counts time spent at each place. This information is then used to display statistics such as "Time At Work", "Time Spent At Home" and "Time Spent Out".
Location awareness
Location awareness refers to devices that can passively or actively determine their location. Navigational instruments provide location coordinates for vessels and vehicles. Surveying equipment identifies location with respect to a well-known locationa wireless communications device...
mobile app developed by Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
as a successor to their earlier SMS
SMS
SMS is a form of text messaging communication on phones and mobile phones. The terms SMS or sms may also refer to:- Computer hardware :...
-based service Dodgeball
Dodgeball (service)
Dodgeball was a location-based social networking software provider for mobile devices. Users text their location to the service, which then notifies them of crushes, friends, friends' friends and interesting venues nearby...
. Latitude allows a mobile phone
Mobile phone
A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...
user to allow certain people to view their current location. Via their own Google Account
Google Account
A Google Account is a user account that provides access to Google-owned services such as Blogger, YouTube, and Google Groups. A Google Account can be identified either by the username or by their unique permanent ID...
, the user's cell phone location is mapped on Google Maps
Google Maps
Google Maps is a web mapping service application and technology provided by Google, free , that powers many map-based services, including the Google Maps website, Google Ride Finder, Google Transit, and maps embedded on third-party websites via the Google Maps API...
. The user can control the accuracy and details of what each of the other users can see — an exact location can be allowed, or it can be limited to identifying the city only. For privacy, it can also be turned off by the user, or a location can be manually entered. Users have to explicitly opt in to Latitude, and may only see the location of those friends who have decided to share their location with them.
Dodgeball
Dodgeball was founded in 2000 by New York UniversityNew York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
students Dennis Crowley
Dennis Crowley
Dennis Crowley is an American internet entrepreneur best known for co-founding the popular social networking sites Dodgeball and Foursquare.-Education:...
and Alex Rainert. The company was acquired by Google in 2005. In April 2007, Crowley and Rainert left Google, with Crowley describing their experience there as "incredibly frustrating". After leaving Google, Crowley created a similar service known as Foursquare
Foursquare (service)
Foursquare, stylized as foursquare, is a location-based social networking website for mobile devices, such as smartphones. Users "check-in" at venues using a mobile website, text messaging or a device-specific application by selecting from a list of venues the application locates nearby...
with the help of Naveen Selvadurai
Naveen Selvadurai
Naveen Selvadurai is an internet entrepreneur and co-founder of location-based social networking site Foursquare.com. He was born in Tamil Nadu, India.-Career:...
.
Dodgeball offered a facility to users by way of SMS
SMS
SMS is a form of text messaging communication on phones and mobile phones. The terms SMS or sms may also refer to:- Computer hardware :...
. Dodgeball was available for the cities of Seattle, Portland
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
, San Francisco, Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
, San Diego, Phoenix
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...
, Dallas–Fort Worth
Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth is the 16th-largest city in the United States of America and the fifth-largest city in the state of Texas. Located in North Central Texas, just southeast of the Texas Panhandle, the city is a cultural gateway into the American West and covers nearly in Tarrant, Parker, Denton, and...
, Austin
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
, Houston, New Orleans, Miami, Atlanta, Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, Philadelphia, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, Detroit, Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Madison
Madison, Wisconsin
Madison is the capital of the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Dane County. It is also home to the University of Wisconsin–Madison....
, Minneapolis–St. Paul
Saint Paul, Minnesota
Saint Paul is the capital and second-most populous city of the U.S. state of Minnesota. The city lies mostly on the east bank of the Mississippi River in the area surrounding its point of confluence with the Minnesota River, and adjoins Minneapolis, the state's largest city...
and Denver.
In January 2009 Vic Gundotra
Vic Gundotra
Vivek "Vic" Gundotra , is Senior Vice-President of Social Business for Google and was previously a general manager at Microsoft.-Career:Gundotra joined Microsoft in 1991 and eventually became General Manager of Platform Evangelism...
, Vice President of Engineering at Google, announced that the company would "discontinue Dodgeball.com in the next couple of months, after which this service will no longer be available." Dodgeball was shut down and succeeded in February 2009 by Google Latitude.
Latitude
With Google Latitude, the service has expanded to PC browsers (it uses the Geolocation APIW3C Geolocation API
The W3C Geolocation API is an effort by the World Wide Web Consortium to standardize an interface to retrieve the geographical location information for a client-side device...
as well as user-driven input) and automated location detection on mobile phones using Cellular positioning
Cell of origin (telecommunications)
Cell of Origin is a mobile positioning technique for finding a caller's cell location.- Overview :...
, Wi-Fi Positioning
Wi-Fi Positioning System
Wi-Fi-based positioning system emerged as an idea that can solve the positioning in certain situations , taking advantage of the rapid growth of wireless access points in urban areas...
, and GPS.
In November 2009, Google announced a Latitude feature called "Location History" which stores and analyzes a user's location over time, for example attempting to identify a user's home and workplace.
At the end of May 2010, Google announced an API which allows applications to make use of Latitude data, with the user's explicit consent.
Compatibility
Google Latitude is compatible with most devices running iOS, Android, BlackBerry OSBlackBerry OS
BlackBerry OS is a proprietary mobile operating system, developed by Research In Motion for its BlackBerry line of smartphone handheld devices...
, Windows Mobile
Windows Mobile
Windows Mobile is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft that was used in smartphones and Pocket PCs, but by 2011 was rarely supplied on new phones. The last version is "Windows Mobile 6.5.5"; it is superseded by Windows Phone, which does not run Windows Mobile software.Windows Mobile is...
, and Symbian S60
S60 (software platform)
The S60 Platform is a software platform for mobile phones that runs on Symbian OS. It was created by Nokia, who made the platform open source and contributed it to the Symbian Foundation. S60 has been used by mobile device manufacturers including Siemens mobile, Lenovo, LG Electronics, Panasonic...
.
Initially Google promised on the Latitude page that it would be available for Java ME phones, but this claim was later removed from the site. On most platforms Latitude can continue to update the user's location in the background when the application is not in use, while on others it only updates the user's location when the application is in use.
The Sony Ericsson W995
Sony Ericsson W995
The Sony Ericsson W995 is a candybar slider model music phone designed by Sony Ericsson as the new Walkman flagship phone, previously known as Hikaru. The W995 was released on 4 June 2009 and uses the 4th version of the 'Walkman Player'. It is also the first Walkman phone to feature a 3.5mm headset...
, C905
Sony Ericsson C905
The Sony Ericsson C905 is a high-end mobile phone in Sony's 'C' range, which, with the low-end 'S' range, supplants the earlier 'K' range of camera phones. It is the flagship model in Sony Ericsson's range for 2008 and it was released on 22 October 2008...
, C903, C510, Elm and Satio mobile phones support Google Latitude as part of their built-in Google Maps
Google Maps
Google Maps is a web mapping service application and technology provided by Google, free , that powers many map-based services, including the Google Maps website, Google Ride Finder, Google Transit, and maps embedded on third-party websites via the Google Maps API...
application. Although this is a Java ME application, it cannot be downloaded for use with other mobile phones.
Privacy concerns
Amid concerns over locational privacy, Google announced that Latitude overwrites a user's previous location with the new location data, and does not keep logs of locations provided to the service.As of early 2011, Google Latitude now optionally records a history of places visited and counts time spent at each place. This information is then used to display statistics such as "Time At Work", "Time Spent At Home" and "Time Spent Out".