Google to map you

With the search engine's enhanced mapping service you can spot a friend anywhere on earth

With the search engine's enhanced mapping service you can spot a friend anywhere on earth

There is no running away from its prying eyes and no hiding. Wherever you are, Google will find you and announce your location to your friends.

Find me: A grab of the Google Maps websiteu00a0representative pic

On Wednesday, search engine giant Google Inc launched a new feature on its Google Maps services Google Latitude where users can trace the exact location of a person through mobile phones. With this feature you can see if your spouse is stuck in traffic on the way home from work, notice that a friend is in town for the weekend, or take comfort in knowing that your boss is stranded in a foreign city.

"Using the Google account one can select the new feature and then invite friends and family to join Google Latitude. Once they accept, one can see their photograph appear on a map through their mobile phone," the company said on its website.

Not only can the user see a person's location on the map, he or she can also get in touch through SMS, Google Talk or Gmail.

"I am already using the Google mobile service to stay updated about news. Google Latitude sounds exciting and I hope it is as good as they claim," said Mugdha Pandey, a BPO employee from Noida.

Parents seem to be the happiest with the service. "Now we can keep an eye on our kids. They can't fool us," said Rakesh Bhatnagar, a businessman from Delhi.

Security concerns

While this sounds like the ultimate spy, it has its dark spots too. If a person doesn't want to reveal his or her location, the service can be disabled.

"We recognise the sensitivity of location data, so we have built fine-grained privacy controls into the application. Everything about Latitude is opt-in. You not only control exactly who gets to see your location, but you also decide the location that they see," said the company website.

So if you are in Mumbai and want don't want your friends to know, you can make Latitude lie about your location. Google also offers the option to turn off the Latitude service completely whenever the user wants.
Google has launched this application in 27 countries. One can go to www.google.com/latitude to download the application and start sharing his/her location.

Finding you
Google Latitude is available on Symbian 60-based phones, iPhone-iPod Touch, coloured Blackberry phones and Android-based phones. For desktops, the Latitude gets an added iGoogle page.