DISQUS

Rik Wuts · 10 months ago

DANG – Just tried to put in on my iPhone, but get a 'coming soon'. Sounds like a very useful feature.

Scobleizer · 10 months ago

I talked with an executive from Google yesterday and he said the iPhone version is coming "soon" and will have even more features.

I am accepting everyone on Google Latitude so you can stalk me and see where I am. scobleizer@gmail.com

Rik Wuts · 10 months ago

Cool, I'l be looking forward to that.

I've just added you.

R.

Jamie Lin · 10 months ago

I have a G1 and it's not working for Androids either! That surprises me because everyone at Google has a G1 for their year-end bonus last year and Google is famous for eating their own dog food. Just have to keep waiting...

yish · 10 months ago

Latitude comes standard with the newest 1.1 Android OS release which should be rolling out currently. Just received my update over the weekend.

Jamie Lin · 10 months ago

Oh yeah funny part is I received the update later that afternoon after I posted the comment! Have been playing with it. I hope they roll it out on iPhone soon cuz most of my friends are on that. Ha!

Geoff · 10 months ago

And the killer bit is that google gets to know who is really important to you!

Chrisitan · 10 months ago

Fred,
Nice to talk about Latitude. The service UI is amazing I agree, didn't see on BB but on Nokia E71. The big point is my concern about privacy and push-location realtime. In my opinion is a bit too much, as you are writing you won't share with a large network, like Twitter of FB. We have built Mobnotes, a mobile geo social utility, with another aim. You can broadcast your location if you want, when you want but you need to do a specific move. No realtime push, which in my opinion not yet mature and people care about privacy more than we can think.
Another point is that outside of US the mobile data charge are still pricely, so it take some "euro" to load google mobile map.

livejamie · 10 months ago

I get a Coming Soon on my G1 as well.

steepdecline · 10 months ago

"other applications for Latitude that aren't immediately obvious"..

You mean like serving geo-location specific ads? or is that too obvious?
more a matter of when than if, I'd argue

or geo-location analytics? (how many people saw my ad on google billboards?)

Hammer · 10 months ago

Why are people so bitter about ads? Wouldn't you want geo-locaded advertising? If I'm in a new area and want to get lunch, it'd be nice if a discount coupon appeared on my screen.

American Legal Association · 10 months ago

Divorce layers rejoice!!!

David Semeria · 10 months ago

Aye

Facebook User · 10 months ago

I personally am very happy to share where I have been, but am extremely reluctant to tell people where I actually am. Maybe it is just me.

Rachel Luxemburg · 10 months ago

It's not just you. I am extremely uncomfortable with that level of visibility.
And by and large I am quite comfortable with lifestreaming.

fede · 10 months ago

i thhink that if you match your google history, calendar, gmail and this new app
you have a huge data mining feuture to serve you adds that can say i know you have a time gap of 2 hours and you are interested in buying a shirt there is a sale 2 blocks from here. give this code to get a discount bla bla

fredwilson · 10 months ago

That will be very powerful if they can actually deliver that

anon · 10 months ago

Your gmap location is often off by few hundred yards (at least in Manhattan) so glat is not yet useful today.

pauljacobson · 10 months ago

Is that not because the phone isn't GPS enabled and is using cell towers to position?

coldbrew · 10 months ago

Right, so called A-GPS (A for assisted), but law enforcement is able to use A-GPS to find people after 911 calls more quickly than I would think a "few hundred yards" resolution would allow for . What gives? I'm not sure what level of data is available to the carriers and to what extent they offer that data to 3rd parties.

From working with ISO 18000-7 RTLS (Real-Time Location Systems) for the "enterprise", some of the companies offer ~3ft. resolution (in 3d spaces) using wifi (Pango Networks, Ekahau, Wherenet, etc.) Best example I have for very high resolution is Ubisense (found at the logical url), but they use UWB (not part of 18000-7) and is only useful within buildings. [Edited for clarity and greater context.]

Shaili · 10 months ago

Another example of the implementation for E911 comes from PolarisWireless which uses wireless location signature. They are constantly trying to improve the time to fix location vs accuracy issues. For indoors & dense urban areas, this works better than GPS.

Agree that ultimately, location fix will be a hybrid solution and a function of cost, accuracy & privacy issues. Latitude does a good job of using hybrid location technologies but is a long way from good indoor resolutions.

Deepak Das · 10 months ago

Hi Fred,

I think the new Latitude release is great but it still does not work on all devices and carriers and they claim. I have tested this on multiple devices on multiple carriers and am finding some issues with it. However overall when it works it really rocks. It especially works well on a GPS enabled device on a network/carrier that does not block the location API.
For example;
# 1 On WM device (without GPS) on Verizon and it cannot get or pinpoint my location. It is not able to use cell-tower ID as well. Carrier restrictions still prevail. I wonder if Verizon will ever grow up.
#2 If you as a Latitude user (do not setup your location or prefer to hide it), then another user who looks for you gets a location that latitude determines. Latitude seems to scour your address book details on that person's phone to get any available information to display your location. It may use your zip from address etc..)
#3 If it gets location by this, it can display peope in the wrong places. It consistently puts one of my friends in the middle of a swamp (He is nowhere close to that). It may be using tower-id, but still it is way off.
#4: Cool features are one thing, but I think a lot of people prefer not to display their exact locations. The granularity of the location offered by Latitude (when it works) is stunning. For ex: It can tell exactly which direction I am facing or moving (this is with GPS though). On tower id info, it can tell your location to the nearest tower with a radius of 3000 meters.

In the end, If Google does open up the API and allow other third party application developers to build on this, we will see a whole new array of LBS apps. Then again, Carriers will ultimately determine the success of LBS apps, as they hold the key to the location API's open on the devices they sell.

pauljacobson · 10 months ago

This service fascinates me and I agree with you, it isn't the kind of service where you invite everyone (at least not to view your precise location). The possible applications make this a really interesting service. I like the idea of being able to give someone directions based on where they are relative to where they want to be as well as to where you may be. Detailed map data is vital to its success though. Not all countries have that level of detail in their maps unfortunately.

Carlos Alves Jorge · 10 months ago

Hi Fred,

I saw you at LeWeb08 and have been following your blog for quite some time but this is my 1st comment!

I think this Latitude product is not getting the buzz it deserves. For me it will be one major revenue source mainly by providing geo-ads on a mobile device - what are the good restaurants for me to go with Fred, I'm in Tribeca and he's in Soho. Gimme something in between.

But this is also major product for logistics and commercial departments wanting to track where their cars are at or where their commercial people is.

Of course this can become Big Brother so people should really deal with this with careful but the potential is just huge!

henryyates · 10 months ago

I felt a bit sorry for Loopt when I saw this news.

I can see that having a large network could be useful when you are traveling - hooking up with people at the airport/at a stop over. Potentially more useful than Dopplr/Trippit.

Jean Toomey · 10 months ago

Fred - I agree it's amazing, but it just feels somewhat 'creepy' to me. Hate to sound paranoid, but doesn't Google have enough data on all of us? (Great blog, BTW.)
@Toomz

Michael · 10 months ago

I think there is a huge privacy issue here - can't see people letting others know where they are at all times. Maybe they should add a feature that when you want to let someone know where you are, you can send them an update via the software that will place you on their map as a snapshot.

BmoreWire · 10 months ago

After spending years hearing about issues with cookies, anonymous targeting of ip addresses, personics, behavioral, intrusive behavioral messaging......and everything else that we think will spook the consumers and raise privacy concerns.......I think I've come to one truth. People like to say that they care about privacy, but the truth is they are soooooo much more interested in exploiting every fact, rumor, suspicion, private thought that they have online. Any product that allows users to share more information about themselves and brag about what they're doing, how they're doing it, and who they're doing it with online will be a winner.

Nick D · 10 months ago

There is a feature in Latitudes that allows you to place your icon anywhere on the map and more specifically, you can "show" one person where your REALLY are, but show someone else (wife?) that you're still at the office. Pretty damn cool.

Not that I would lie to my wife, oh wait, I'm divorced already........

James · 10 months ago

How come you are not at the TED conference?

fredwilson · 10 months ago

I've never been to Ted. It was invitation only for a long time and they never invited me and now I just don't have an affinity for that brand

warzabidul · 10 months ago

I like it, had it running for a day now, did mistake me for being in Amsterdam and then London though... now it's correct again.

markslater · 10 months ago

soon we are gonna need device wing mirrors (like on the old school chopper bicycles from the 80's) so that we can all avoid each other walking down the street.

Adam Hepton · 10 months ago

Saves on having to post to Twitter when you're away on business "I'm in London if anyone wants to meet up for dinner" - you can see where people who matter to you are, they can see you, and you can easily arrange meetups, without having to open it up to the greater unwashed unless there's noone near you ;)

gzino · 10 months ago

The "phone carrier" of the future could be an entity that intelligently and mostly automatically intermediates data flow/communications/digital interaction between me and the rest of the world. The entity doesn't provide the pipes or end devices - it provides a slice of the semantic web vision with more human controls/inputs/rule sets than pure semantic web, and discrete enough use cases and needs to develop. The entity needs to know and understands my "presence" - of which location is one critical component. Is this a step in that direction? Can Google become this entity? Do they want to?

Dan Hung · 10 months ago

I totally agree that Google is quietly running the table on maps features. In addition to having these really great value added features, their sheer size seems to allow them overcome the competition's first mover advantages (here's looking at you hopstop.com).

Joe Lazarus · 10 months ago

Latitude is pretty cool, but the service will be a LOT more useful when they add support for longitude. Pretty big oversight for a mapping app, if you ask me.

unclespeedo · 10 months ago

haha!

DaveGoulden · 10 months ago

Google Maps is THE killer app for me on my Windows Mobile phone. I use the search feature a ton, great way to find nearby businesses or landmarks. I can't wait to try Latitude. Hope it's available for my handset.

As for the privacy arguments in this discussion, I could see google adding an icognito mode like in Chrome. Although maybe that won't work, "Honey, why were you incognito last night when you said you were going to a client dinner?"

I guess if you've got something to hide, don't use this app.

Michael Nolan · 10 months ago

Wow - a nightmare if I go back and live my teen age years... (I'm sure my teens won't mind!).

And, would have been great when I was running a team of direct salespeople...

Mike

lawrence · 10 months ago

I can't find anyone without a damn iphone to be friends with.

Vinicius Vacanti · 10 months ago

Here's another use for it that I just realized: Next time you lose your phone, Google Latitude can tell you where it is via the web interface. I just wrote about it: http://bit.ly/yRO6

fredwilson · 10 months ago

That's a great insight!

daryn · 10 months ago

Conceivably, there will be a API for latitude, making it easy to build your own personal "Lo-Jack" network for all your devices.

Mike Williams · 10 months ago

Yes I agree, but it is a iphone after all

Soe Thiha · 10 months ago

Yes, I agree too.

kenberger · 10 months ago

It's great for caravanning on a road trip and tracking where and what progress each car makes. A group of us drove up to a beach house in far Northern Calif last week, and tried using Loopt. Many folks now use Gmaps as their GPS while driving. So the problem winds up being you have to close Loopt to switch to Gmaps (at which point Loopt stops tracking). Not anymore.

Gmaps freakin' dominates. I don't think they're 'slowly' doing it, I think they took over vs Mapquest, etc long ago. With the exception of some local services for countries not well-covered by gmaps, and live.com (MS) offers some formidable bird's eye photos.

fredwilson · 10 months ago

Ok, they are quickly doing it!!

Christian Cadeo · 10 months ago

Awesome service but imagine if they add a couple things:

1. Automate the pinging so that every hour it records your location. Make it smart enough that if your location does not deviate drastically from the prior hour then it does not record it. Reduces the dupes.
2. Allow an opt-in process where it logs all of your whereabouts and keeps it similar to the web search history. You can then pull up historical info of any period in your life and exactly where you were.
3. Building on top of the historical presence, allow you to match your location with someone else. Imagine you just met someone and Latitude was able to cross-reference this new associate info with your to see if you have been in close proximity anytime prior to your first meeting.
4. Triangulate your Gmail, Search History, Latitude and whatever else goog has about you into a dashboard that infers your life that day and answers where, what, who and when better then any human mind will ever be able to recall.

In any case, I think Latitude is a giant step into a world where nothing is ever forgotten.

fredwilson · 10 months ago

Agreed. And I'll add another feature request. An sms alert when I am within a certain distance of a friend on latitude

deancollins · 10 months ago

well wasn't that the whole concept behind Dennis Crowley's Dogeball application?

btw apparently he is coding Dodgeball 2 now.

At the moment latitude isn't updating anything in a meaningful way about 'where' you are.

it also doesn't have any data extraction api's (yet).

fredwilson · 10 months ago

Dodgeball was simply too early in my opinion

Ajans · 10 months ago

Thanks but no thanks. I lived through this with Plazes (an earlier version of the same idea), and gave up on it when there got to be one too many socially inappropriate moments.

The worst part of any of these services is not when they work right; that is actually quite interesting. The worst part is when they work wrong, and they automatically place you somewhere you aren't, and some concerned (or nosy) person pings you to ask about it.

Noah David Simon · 10 months ago

a friend of mine... I think his name is Lee Harvey Oswald Jr. wants to know how many of your Alist friends you have invited to this wonderful service.

Noah David Simon · 10 months ago

GPS fun... not serious

fredwilson · 10 months ago

I don't have any a-list friends thankfully

Noah David Simon · 10 months ago

aw... weren't you just a little scared?

Shaili · 10 months ago

We have built a geodiary service (www.mygeodiary.com) where I have been logging my whereabouts for over 12 months now. Fascinating what patterns emerge when you look at a large corpus of personal data.
The service gives you basic "record, semantically organize & publish" mechanism for your geo data:
0. Record using a variety of positioning devices (BB, Windows, Garmin ...) with rich annotations
1. Create a group of friends (currently supports public or private), select a set of apps (flickr, blogspot e.g) or create GeoRSS feeds.
2. Publish to these entities based on how you tag your location data (post to flickr; send email notification etc.).
3. Derive analytics from users data (e.g. fitness metrics, distance travelled, search based on location etc.)
We have built this on a SaaS model with a decent API & Widgets library. Now we keeping adding apps to link the geodiary service to.

thx,

fredwilson · 10 months ago

Can I try it?

Shaili · 10 months ago

Pls do ... at www.mygeodiary.com. I can mail you a BB georecorder app to try out.

Appreciate any feedback,
Shaili

bahram · 10 months ago

where can i find more information about google latitude?

calvin · 10 months ago

I'm trying to get latitude but it keeps saying coming soon and I'm getting upset.I have a G1 and so do my friends and family and they have on there phone . I'm not understanding why it won't let me have it

Shaili · 10 months ago

Good article on the Location-enabled Next Net:
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09...