Check-ins now on ‘Latitude’

Google has finally added full check-in capabilities to its Latitude product, following in the footsteps of Foursquare, Gowalla, Yelp, Facebook, and others that have been doing check-ins for some time now. Latitude has been a tool that lets one user share his/her location with friends, but now it goes further and allows users to check-in to specific businesses and locations.

But Google’s check-in system comes with a few twists:

- Latitude can send reminders to check-in at locations when you arrive.
- Latitude supports automated check-ins at places you choose.
- Latitude automatically checks you out when you leave the location.

Those are convenient features that check-in fans will enjoy. But, Latitude check-ins are also missing a couple other features common to competing services:

- Users can’t currently add new locations to Latitude. It relies on the database of locations from Google Places.
- Users can’t share their locations on social networks like Facebook or Twitter (something many Twitter/Facebook users probably hope is a feature that’s never added).

Perhaps the biggest thing missing from Latitude check-ins is the iPhone. Google’s blog post says the feature is currently only to Android users with Google Maps 5.1 for Android. But Google says that’s coming soon. ?

It’s also odd that Latitude check-ins aren’t (yet ?) more closely tied to Google Hotpot, the local/social recommendation tool that Google has been promoting heavily since its launch a couple months ago. – Original Article by Matt McGee

Related posts:

1. Google Mobile Tightens Its Grip On Local
2. Google tries to take on FourSquare