Figure 1: Google Maps: Install Now

First we'll need to install Google Maps (Latitude is a new feature in Google Maps). Launch your phone's browse and go to www.google.com/latitude, then click on the Install Now link.

Figure 2: Confirm Download

Check the box to set the necessary application permissions, and click Download to begin downloading Google Maps. This is standard procedure for installing any Blackberry application.

Figure 3: View Permissions Changes

Click View to review the permissions changes.

Figure 4: Save Permissions

Press the menu button and then Save the permissions changes.

Figure 5: Downloading Google Maps

Downloading is relatively quick - the version I downloaded was just under 700KB.

Figure 6: Grant Google Maps Trusted Application Status

You'll want to grant Google Maps trusted application status so it can access your phone's location information.

Figure 7: Terms and Conditions

Scroll down and accept Google's Terms & Conditions.

Figure 8: Launch Google Maps

Once you've finished downloading and installing Google Maps, launch it.

Figure 9: Join Latitude

Before you can see your own location on the map and invite others, you need to opt-in to Latitude. Press the Menu button and Join Latitude.

Figure 10: Sign In

Sign into your Google account by entering your username and password, or click "Don't have a Google account?" if you don't already have an account.

Figure 11: Set Latitude's Sharing Level

Latitude needs to know your location before it can display it on the map. Choose "Allow, start using Latitude" to continue.

Figure 12: Latitude, Main Menu

Latitude displays a list of contacts I'm currently tracking. To see where a friend is, you must first "invite" them to allow you to see their location information, and that person must also be using Google Latitude.

Figure 13: Add Friends

Click the Menu button and choose Add Friends to add contacts to your map.

Figure 14: Add Friends

You can add contacts to Google Latitude from your Google address book, if you have one, or by entering an email address.

Figure 15: What the Invitee Sees

When you "invite" someone to share location information with you via Google Latitude, they will see a new sharing request pop-up in Google Latitude, and they will also receive an email with a link to accept the invitation.

Figure 16: Sharing Request

The invitee has three options when accepting a sharing request:

• Accept and share back
• Accept, but hide my location
• Don't accept

Figure 17: Viewing A Friend's Location

Click on a contact in Google Latitude, and you can view their location on the map, get directions to their location, search for businesses (restaurants, hotels, etc.) near the friend's location, or change their ability to see your location information.

Figure 18: Sharing Options

Google Latitude lets you set custom sharing levels for each person on your list. You can:

• Share best available location - shares the most accurate location information Latitude can get
• Share only city level location - lets this contact see what city you are near, but not your precise location
• Hide from this friend - blocks this person from seeing where you are

Figure 19: Google Latitude, Map Screen

Latitude's map screen, shown above, displays your position as well as that of any additional people you're sharing location data with. You can't add labels to the callout boxes, but you can add photos or pictures to the contact's information, and that photo or picture will displayed inside the box icon.

Figure 20: Map Options

You can switch from map to satellite view, display real-time traffic conditions, zoom in and out, get directions, or search for a business name, all directly from the map screen.

Figure 21: Viewing Google Latitude From A Web Browser

You can view Google Latitude via a web browser by visiting google.com/latitude and click on the link to add Latitude to iGoogle.

Figure 22: Gears Security Warning

If you access Latitude from a browser, a security pop-up may appear, asking for permission to send location information to Google. Positioning is approximate in this case, and based on your IP address.

Figure 23: iGoogle Dashboard

Once added to your iGoogle dashboard, Latitude's map widget displays any contacts sharing location information with you.

Conclusion

Google Latitude is a brilliant idea with tremendous potential. The ability to instantly locate your loved ones or friends on a map will put many minds at ease, and probably cause just as many to fear yet another Google-sponsored loss of privacy.

Google Latitude's premise is simple: mutually agree to track each other's location, and Google's software figures out where your phone is, and displays your, along with anyone else whose agreed to let you track them, location on the map. Friends can post status messages so you can see what they're up to, and you can easily call them or send text messages directly from the map screen.

When I first read about Google Latitude, I thought this could be a great tool to help families keep tabs on each other's whereabouts, and might even be a suitable replacement for some GPS tracking devices. After using Google Latitude for about a week, however, it's clear that the software still has much room for improvement, and true GPS tracking devices have nothing to fear, at least for the time being.

The biggest problem I had with Google Latitude was that it almost never correctly displayed my location on the map. Despite using a GPS-enabled Blackberry Bold, my position on the map fluctuated wildly. When I was at home, Latitude thought I was about 15 miles away from my true location. When I went to work in the morning and entered my office building, Latitude showed me 2000 miles away on the map. Sometimes Latitude would refuse to switch from the internal GPS to the internal radio and triangulate my position via cell tower location, and would just display "waiting for GPS". Results on my wife's Blackberry 8700 were equally inaccurate.

I also found myself wishing I could configure proximity alerts, so my phone could alert me if a Latitude friend was nearby.

I also experienced reliability issues. Almost immediately after downloading and installing Google Maps on my Blackberry Bold, I started experiencing software crashes that required me to reboot the Blackberry about once every 24 hours. I don't know if it was an issue with Google Maps per se, or some interaction with other software I have installed on my Blackberry. Either way, uninstalling Google Maps seems to have corrected the issue for now.

There there's the more subtle privacy issue. Sure, you have to opt-in to any location tracking, and anyone whose location you want to track has to accept an invitation from you before you can see where they are on the map, but who wants to be in the potentially embarrassing position of refusing to let a friend or family member know where you are? It's unlikely you're leading a secret double life, but planning that surprise birthday party might not be so easy if everyone knows exactly what you've been up to.

I tested Google Maps version 3.0.2 on a Blackberry Bold and Blackberry 8700. The software still feels like version 1.0, and accuracy and reliability need improvement before Latitude can reach its potential. For the time being I've uninstalled Latitude from my Blackberry, but will install it again when the next version is released.