What is Google Latitude?
Google Latitude was a location-based social networking app and service developed by Google. It was launched in 2009 and discontinued in 2013.
Latitude allowed users to share their physical locations with friends and see friends' locations plotted on a map or on a list. Users had to expressly choose to enable location sharing with specific friends. The app supported both GPS positioning from mobile devices and manual positioning by selecting a location on a map.
Key features of Google Latitude included:
- Seeing friends' locations on maps and getting directions to them
- Location history and location tagging
- Checking in at places to share where you are
- Sharing status messages with location
- Controlling location sharing and privacy settings
- Tagging and searching places
- Integration with other Google services like Google Maps and Google+
Latitude competed with services like Foursquare before being discontinued in August 2013, with Google citing low usage. Some features were integrated into Google+ and the Google Maps app.
Life360 Family Locator, Glympse, Foursquare, OwnTracks, BuddyPress, iSharing, lclz.in, Mapple.me, Miataru, LockOnMe, Kilroy are some alternatives to Google Latitude.