How to Find People For Free, in Real Time, With Google Latitude

Find Your Friends with Google Latitude

Wish you could know exactly where your kids are at this very moment? What your sweetheart is doing? Whether your employees are really at a meeting across town? Or just have an idea of what your friends are up to, right now! Here's how to know all this, and more, with Google Latitude.

Things You'll Need

• cell phone

Instructions

1. **Check out Google Latitude**

   Google strikes again! It's new online tool is Google Latitude. People can sign up to this service by entering their cell phone numbers. Once signed up, their friends can see on a map exactly where that person is at any given moment. Or at least, see where their cell phone is! Once spotted, you can IM one another directly from Google Latitude.

   Google Latitude uses triangulation between cell phone towers, or direct GPS data, to pinpoint a phone's location, and show that location (usually, with a personal avatar) of Google Maps.

2. **Sign Up to Google Latitude**

   If this sort of thing interests you, you can sign up at google.com/latitude simply by entering your phone number. You will then receive an activation text message on your cell phone.

   Google Latitude is not yet compatible with all types of cell phones, so you'll have to check their list of available services. The Latitude site says it will soon work with Apple iPhones, and many others as well.

   The service also works with iGoogle (Google's mobile aps).

3. **Check on Your Friends**

   Even if you're not signed up (and even if you don't have a cell phone) you can still check on the whereabouts of any of your friends or family (or employees, or whoever) that have signed on to the service.

Tips & Warnings

• You can set privacy levels so that only select people can see your whereabouts.

• You can also set Google Latitude to show only the city in which you're in, but not a precise location.

• And of course, you can unsubscribe from the service at any time, and no one will ever know where you are, or what you're up to!

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish