Yesterday, Google Inc. released the real-time location tool Google Latitude and opened up a new world of location-based services (LBS) for both PC and mobile phone users.
Latitude enables you to track friends, family, employees and so on — and vice-versa — in real time. Whether this is a good thing (hey, you’ll always know where your buddy is in the stadium parking lot), or a preview of a corporate 1984 world where your boss can track your every move, will be determined by how we’ll use the service. It’s no surprise that at least one privacy group has already voiced security concerns over Latitude.
For now, though, most questions center on how people can use Latitude and how it does its location voodoo.