Mountain View, California — Barely two months after extending Latitude check-ins for Android devices, search engine giant Google has now launched an updated version of Latitude for iOS that complements support for check-ins feature to the iPhone on Monday.
Google’s Latitude platform was a relatively early contender into the current wave of location-aware apps–but so far, it has steered clear of the “check-in” terminology that trendy start-ups like Foursquare have popularized.
Google’s Latitude, is a service that enables you to track your friends via GPS, now finally allows users to check into specific places, and share their location with their friends, taking a competitive strike at similar services like Foursquare and Gowalla.
The company added check-ins to the Android version of Google Maps last month. The latest option comes via an update to Latitude for the iPhone. “Now, you can also choose to check in at specific places, such as your favorite restaurant or a park, to add more context to your location,” Greg Blevins, a Google software engineer, wrote in a blog post. “You will be able to not only let friends know that you are just around the corner but also let them know the actual coffee shop that you are at in case they want to join.”
(Credit: Google)
Google Latitude is a service that empowers you to see where your friends are on a map in real-time. But if your friends have not turned on the feature in a while you end up looking at list of stale locations where your friends were last week or 6 months ago. Moreover, the new check-ins add a little flavoring to that list by letting Latitude not just track your physical location, but also whether you went to a restaurant, bar, coffee shop, movie theater, or other business.
Also, it connects with a similar feature for the Latitude Android app, announced last week right before the notorious check-in playground of the South by Southwest Interactive Festival (SXSW) in Austin, Texas, at which Google also revealed a promotion with multiple local merchants to let users earn deals by gaining status as “Regulars,” “VIPs,” and “Gurus” much in the league of Foursquare’s “mayors”.
One of the smartest features in the way Google Latitude handles check-ins is that the app is constantly tracking your location anyway. So if you have set Google Latitude to regularly update your location, the app will automatically check you out when you leave a spot. Checking in is opt-in, and users can select to share any check-in with friends on Latitude, publicly on the web or on their Google profile.
Also, Google has disclosed that it will feature loyalty-based check-in rewards, which are unique in that you will be able to pre-view loyalty rewards directly from Google Maps, so you can better plan where you want to go, instead of just having a happenstance reward.
Finally, Google Latitude for iOS is available as a free download for the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, 3rd and 4th generation iPod touch, and the iPad. However, you will need a 3G capable device to use the background updating feature.
Google has also released an update to Google Places for iOS, which now has support for 30 languages, as well as the ability to “save favorites,” which could be handy if you are traveling and want to send a few tagged recommendations to a friend.