Google Latitude FTW

Thursday, April 9, 2009 | 2:40 PM

Since the launch of Google Latitude in February, many of you have come up with fun and creative ways to use it. We'd like to highlight some of your bright ideas, then share our own idea for creating a message using the icons on the map.

First up, we were totally revved by the story of Garage 419's do-it-yourself race from Manhattan, NY, to Washington D.C., using a plane, a train, an automobile, and various mobile devices. These guys took advantage of Latitude to keep tabs on the race in progress and make adjustments in their strategy and speed. We won't spoil the results, since you can watch the video for yourself. We didn't have racing in mind when we built the app, but who are we to argue with high-tech games?

Next we stumbled on a safari hunt in Glasgow and London. Following clues from Twitter and Latitude, pub crawlers were invited to track down two red lions (the mascots of the Whyte and Mackay brand) that were roaming between various bars and pubs in the two cities.

The Blogger grapevine also brought us this tale of a San Francisco resident who accidentally left his Nokia E71 behind in a cab one night. After remembering that Latitude was switched on, he rushed to his computer, only to find that his phone had already made it to Boston. "Maybe this post will get picked up," he blogged, "go viral and find it's way to the person who has my phone." So far as we know that hasn't happened yet, but we'll echo Nick's plea: "[I]f you do read this, Mister Whoever-found-my-phone, do the right thing."

So what have we done lately? Well, if you need a creatively geeky way to send someone a message, we've got just the ticket. Spell it out with Google Latitude!



We've also made it easy for you to customize your own video, so try writing your own message and pass the video along to a friend. We're very excited by these creative ways of using Latitude, and we look forward to seeing more. If you come up with one yourself, be sure to let us know!

Robin Norvell, Consumer Operations

20 comments:

Hovmand said...

Okay, that was pretty nice :p Hello mom

no said...

Is Google ever going to release Latitude for the iPhone? Or is it just going to stay "coming soon"?

dSims said...

It would be great if I could make my location public to anyone for these kinds of stunts or crazy trips. Like a combination of the Latitude and MyTracks Android apps.

chrislandau said...

I would love to see My maps and Google Latitude Rolled into Maps on iPhone. But maybe I'm dreaming.

lowry.bryan said...

As stated above, I would really like to see Latitude for the iPhone. Will it be coming in the new 3.0 update?

Brenton_watkins said...

who knows????????

T said...

What about Sony Ericsson P1i... when is latitude being launched for this one?

Unknown said...

GOOGLE latitude is currently unavailable for UK users of the GOOGLE phone ! I'm sure it's a brilliant app and I'd love to use it - and good luck trying to get an answer from anyone as to why we aren't allowed it...

Of course I can root the phone and then run the enabler - thereby increasing the chance of bricking the phone, but I don't think I should have to.

Oscar said...

I'm pretty confused about GPS support in Google Maps and Latitude. In some places I see that it is supported, but I see lots of threads in forums that it isn't working for 8x30 Blackberries. I know Verizon only recently enabled the GPS chips in those phones for third parties (Blackberry OS 4.5), but I can't find anything definitive from Google about this. Help?!

Unknown said...

Google has certainly dropped the ball on the iPhone support. I realize that they have their own, competing product - but more people use iPhones than any other single device.

Hopefully this isn't the start of a "not invented here" trend within Google

fosk said...

We want latitude for iPhone, now :D

Young Kevin said...

its gonna be hard to put Google Latitude on the iPhone because Google Maps doesnt run in the background on the iPhone. Meaning you cant keep your gps on if your not currently in your Google Maps app.

Anonymous said...

Lattitude is great and all, but since I can't use it on my Storm, it's no good to me. I mean, I can install it on my Storm, but since gmaps can't utilize the GPS, it's pointless (unless you want to follow my dot as it hangs out in Lake Ontario)...

Mark said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

Mark said...

Chris, get real! iPhone is less than 10% of the mobile phone market in the U.S. RIM is by far the leader in North America. Even Windows Mobile has many more phones than Apple. I'm sure iPhone is a great device, but if I were Google I would publish to the phones with the greatest market saturation first.

Ethan said...

When exactly will Google Latitude come out for iPhone. Will it be tied into the Maps app? Will it come out this summer when iPhone 3.0 is released?

Unknown said...

Hello. Will this work in India and when if it happens
Mohan33367@gmail.com

Niranjan Patil said...

@Mohan, Google Latitude is very much available in India and I use this all the time.
Along with this I also use the 'Get Directions' that Google softly launched in India few weeks back. I use the directions in conjunction with Latitude to meet up with me friends. I can see how far I am from him when traveling or if he wandering off some where else!!
Here is my blog post on Google Maps Mobile: http://outscribe.blogspot.com/2009/04/google-maps-for-mobile-india-silently.html

Rob Marshall said...

I can't beleive that no-one has any idea when latitude for iPhone is coming out....

Unknown said...

"Coming soon" is a little past its due date for the iPhone. Coming soon is like coming next week or two. Its been like over two months now since latitude has been out. When are we going to see an update for the iPhone. Even if it doesn't have background notifications, it would still be useful.