Google Maps To Add 'Friend' GPS Tracking

Henway writes "Google is adding the option to Google Maps to place your whereabouts either via cell phone towers or GPS. Think 'locator beacon.' Paraphrased: This would be good for people wanting to let their friends know where they are or for parents wanting to know where their children are at all times."

Comments

Re:So, kind of like Britekite?

[scubamage]

And Loopt.

Re:Prior Art

[dino2gnt]

Good thing that Latitude is entirely opt-in and not opt-out.

Re:So, kind of like Britekite?

[BlueOtto]

And Mologogo.

Re:My generation was lucky

[Chabo]

I'd bet kids are SAFER now than we were then

You're very right.

APRS

[autocracy]

It saddens me that none of you have mentioned APRS. It's a long-standing and open protocol for doing positions reporting.

Slashdot needs more HAMs. ~KB1PNB

Re:My generation was lucky

[Pentavirate]

I watched the preview and it shows a woman arguing that there is an equal chance of being struck by lightning as being kidnapped (non-family). A little research shows that:

* You have a 1 in 560 chance of being kidnapped by a non-family member and of those 1/5 will be murdered.
* You have a 1 in 280,000 chance of being struck by lightning.
* You have a 1 in 100 chance of dying in a car accident.

While the lady in the video was grossly overestimating the chances of being struck by lightning, there may not be much cause to freak your kids out about "stranger danger". They need to know the information and how to protect themselves, but they definitely shouldn't be made to be hermits and more than they shouldn't be prevented from riding in cars.

One thing is for sure, though. Don't get your statistics from Penn and Teller videos.

Re:My generation was lucky

[clong83]

From your link on kidsfightingchance, I was able to calculate: 11.4 out of 1000 kids are reported missing each year, which comes out to about 800000 cases. Of those, 69000 are actually abducted. Of those, 18% are by non-family. Of those, 37% are by non-friends. The way I crunch the numbers...

11.4/1000 * 69/800* .18 * .37 = 0.0000654

Or,about 1 in 15000 chance of being abducted by a stranger. Even if you go non-family only, it's only about 1 per 10000... Where did you get 1 in 560?? Granted, it's nowhere near the remoteness of a lightning strike, but the odds of an abduction by a non-family member are remote at best.

Re:Big brother knows where you are

[BeerCat]

See, I would recommend actually reading 1984, rather than quoting a single line from it and saying, "Seems to me...".

Let's see:

Original claim - 1984 didn't advocate tracking the whereabouts of the citizens at all times.
Single line quote - refutes claim.

More proof (contained in the link)

"The telescreen received and transmitted simultaneously. Any sound that Winston made, above the level of a very low whisper, would be picked up by it, moreover, so long as he remained within the field of vision which the metal plaque commanded, he could be seen as well as heard. There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment. How often, or on what system, the Thought Police plugged in on any individual wire was guesswork. It was even conceivable that they watched everybody all the time. "