Google 'Latitude' Knows Where You and Your Friends Are

Google’s newest mobile app—Latitude—allows users to keep track of where they, and their friends, are at all times, reports CNET. The phone-based application debuts today and opens up a new vista for social networking. The software allows users—tracked via GPS and by proximity to phone towers and wireless networks—to continually broadcast their location in broad—or very narrow—terms.

Location-based services are the leading edge of targeted advertising that will allow companies to broadcast specific ads to consumers based on their actual location. Google has long had a fascination with maps and mapping applications, and sees Latitude as an extension of its search engine-based advertising model.
(More Google stories.)