Google launched Google Latitude this week. It is a service that lets you keep track of where your friends are by tracking the whereabouts of their mobile phones. Pandia feels a little queasy.

The Official Google Blog puts it this way:

“Latitude is a new feature for Google Maps on your mobile device. It’s also an iGoogle gadget on your computer. Once you’ve opted in to Latitude, you can see the approximate location of your friends and loved ones who have decided to share their location with you. So now you can do things like see if your spouse is stuck in traffic on the way home from work, notice that a buddy is in town for the weekend, or take comfort in knowing that a loved one’s flight landed safely, despite bad weather.”

As Google points out, you can only track those that have agreed to be your Latitude pal:

“Everything about Latitude is opt-in. You not only control exactly who gets to see your location, but you also decide the location that they see.”

This is, of course, why Google Latitude will survive and may even become a popular service.

Still, the reason we feel uneasy about it all is that the “opt-in” part may not always be as voluntarily as Google believes.

Here’s a fictitious dialog:

“Hey honey, why don’t we all install Google Latitude? Then we can keep track of each other all the time. You’ll know when and why I am late for dinner, and we will both know when our kids visit a bad neighborhood.”

“Eh, baby, is that really necessary? I mean, you can always phone me, right?”

“Oh, are you afraid I will discover something?”

“No, no, no! You know that I tell you everything, baby, it’s just that…”

“Just what?!”

“Well, we all need a little privacy, even the kids, you know? They have to explore the world to build their own identity. They have to know that we trust them.”

“You have found yourself a lover, haven’t you?”

“No, you are the only one for me, baby, you know that!”

“I want a divorce!”

In addition to misunderstandings like the one above, picture situations involving e.g. battering and harassment.

Availability

Latitude is available in 27 countries. The following phones are supported:

• Android-powered devices with Maps v3.0 and above. G1 users in the US will be receiving Maps v3.0 in a system update soon.
• Most color BlackBerry devices
• Most Windows Mobile 5.0 and above devices. Note: Some Windows Mobile devices don’t support cell-ID location detection.
• Most Symbian S60 devices
• iPhone and iPod touch devices with the Google Mobile App (coming soon in the US)
• Many Sony Ericsson devices (coming soon)

Here’s Google’s video presentation:

Google Latitude home page.
See also the Google Mobile Blog.