Google Latitude Launches Location History and Alerts

Latitude, a Google (NSDQ: GOOG) service built into Maps for Mobile for sharing your location with trusted friends, just got two big updates. First up is location history, which, when enabled, will allow you to see where you were at specific times on desktop Google Maps, and follow your tracks sequentially. This seems like it could be very handy when trying to retrace steps from a hazy Friday night, seeing where you took a wrong turn, or any number of other scenarios. I’d really like to be able to slap on a Panoramio layer on top of that so I could see where geotagged pictures sit in the larger scheme of a trip.  The other update is Location Alerts, which pings you via e-mail or SMS whenever someone on your Latitude list is nearby – very helpful for impromptu meetups, but depends on having a well-populated friends list. It certainly saves the hassle of actually opening up Google Maps and navigating to Latitude to see who’s usefully nearby. To get started with Location History, head on over here to enable it on your Google account, or over here for Location Alerts.

[via Official Google Mobile Blog]