Cellphone technology has made some major announcements in recent years. One of these announcements is the introduction of GPS receivers into cell phones. GPS receivers were introduced into cell phones to solve an important problem that emergency dispatchers were having with finding people who called 911. If you call 911 from your home, your phone number and address will instantly appear on the screen of the dispatcher. The dispatcher can then get emergency help to you even if you are unable to tell them we’re your exact location. With so many people using cell phones this posed a huge problem. People would often call 911 but be unable to tell the dispatcher their exact location. Consequently, the dispatcher didn’t know where to send emergency help and many people died. GPS receivers were installed in cell phones and the solve that problem.
In 2009 Google realize that they could capitalize Who Called Me from This Phone Number? on the fact that phones have GPS receivers in them. They developed a very popular application called Google Latitude that allows individuals to track their friends, family, and business associates right from their cel lphone. It works with their already popular Google maps service. It’s basically like a huge social networking site that instead of just telling you brief snippets about what the person is up to like they do on Facebook and twitter, you actually see the location of your friend on a map.
It’s quite easy to get set up with Google Latitude. All you have to do is go to Google’s web site and download and install the app onto your phone. Once you have the app installed, you have to sign up for a Google Gmail account if you don’t already have one. This is a free service much like yahoo mail. Then, all you have to do is send out friend requests to your friends who also have Gmail accounts and Google Latitude installed on their cell phones. Once they accept you, you will a small picture icon on the screen of your cell phone showing their exact location.
Only certain cell phones work with the Google Latitude cellphone locator service. There’s a list of devices that are supported at Google’s web site. Within the first week of Google launching the service over a million people signed up. So far, about three million people are using the service. This overwhelming popularity is a clear indicator that people really like being able to track people with your cell phones. Someday soon all mobile phones will come with cell phone tracker applications installed.