Can Google beat mobile operators at location services?

Google today launched an addition to its mobile Google Maps service that lets users share their location and find their friends online, stepping up to compete with mobile operators in a potentially lucrative market.

Google first added location awareness to its Google Maps for mobile clients in November 2007, using a combination of GPS data (if available) and WiFi and cell-tower triangulation techniques to figure out the location of users and place them on a Google map. With that data in place, Google was able to offer map-based services like showing nearby businesses and turn-by-turn directions.

The new Google Latitude service – announced today on the Google blog – enables users to also find out where their friends are on that same map. The service works by allowing users to share their location with others as well as inviting friends to share the information as well. The service is integrated with Google Talk so that users can update status messages and profile photos in real-time as well as use voice calling, SMS, instant messaging or email to communicate with each other via Latitude.

“We recognize the sensitivity of location data, so we've built fine-grained privacy controls right into the application,” wrote Vic Gundotra, vice president of engineering for Google’s mobile team, on the Google blog. “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.”

The service competes with a slew of location-based services from service providers – which sometimes use network information while other times rely on GPS – including Sprint’s open location platform as well as GPS-based solutions for Verizon and others. Meanwhile, third-party location-based apps and social networks, like Loopt or Zyb, are also gaining subscribers.

Service providers not only have the opportunity to offer their own branded location-based services but perhaps just as importantly offer location-based data on their customers to third parties. Google’s service ostensibly competes on both fronts, particularly if it takes off and other applications begin to leverage the wealth of user location and profile data Latitude could assemble.

Users can begin using Latitude now by visiting google.com/latitude on their mobile phone to download a version of Google Maps with Latitude added. The application runs today on Android, Blackberry, Symbian60 and Windows Mobile, with an iPhone version coming soon. It is available in 27 countries and 42 languages.