Google has launched Latitude, a feature in Google Maps for mobile and iGoogle that allows users to share their location with friends and family. While it won’t pinpoint an exact location, it’s a social networking tool that gives users a good idea of where their friends are at a given time.

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Users opt-in to the feature via their Google account, and they can then invite friends and family to join Google Latitude. Once other users accept, their profile pictures appear on a map through the user’s mobile device or desktop PC. The idea is that users can spot their friends in the same neighborhood on the map, using Google Latitude. They can then click on their icon to call, text, IM, or e-mail them.

Google has ensured that users have complete control over how and when they want to be found. Once users have shared their location, they can hide it from individual friends or all of their friends at once. Or, users can turn off Google Latitude completely at any time. Also, users can adjust their privacy settings in Latitude so they share as much or as little about their location as they want, with whom they want.

Google Latitude is available in 27 countries, and across a variety of devices, including:

• Android-powered devices, such as the T-Mobile G1
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  most color BlackBerry devices
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  most Windows Mobile 5.0+ devices
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  most Symbian S60 devices (Nokia smartphones)
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  Google.com users of iGoogle

For more information, visit google.com/latitude from your phone’s mobile browser to download Google Maps for mobile with Latitude. Or visit http://google.com/latitude on your PC browser and add the Latitude gadget to your iGoogle homepage.

With Google’s Latitude application, users can use their phone to find their friends for increased social networking opportunities.