If there has been one thing Google Latitude lacked, it was the ability to actually check-in to places and locations. You might ask why you’d need to do that since that service constantly runs in the background and updates your location to friends, but Latitude has never been focused on that granular level, it’s more been aimed towards seeing friends on a map, not what store they’re at, for instance. Today, that’s changing as Google is finally introducing check-ins for Google Latitude through an update to Google Maps on Android. Google is also looking to make check-ins a bit easier than other services like Foursquare, and here’s how:
- Google will offer check-in notifications. For instance, a notification will alert you on your phone that you went somewhere and forgot to check-in if you have been at one location for a long period of time.
- Google Latitude will offer automatic check-ins, so if you go a place often, it can automatically check you in to those places that you get tired of pulling out your phone and manually checking-in to.
- Latitude will also check you out as well. Once you have left a place, the app can check you out so that you’re no longer listed as being at that location.
These three things might not seem that big, but for the location space, they will go a long way towards making location useful, and reducing “check-in fatigue.”Read
