Google recently announced plans to shutter Google Latitude on August 9. The decision comes as the search giant updates its mapping experiences across Android and iOS devices and will help strengthen check-in and location-sharing features on Google+.
The closure will affect Latitude in Google Maps for Android, Latitude for iPhone, the Latitude API, the public badge, the iGoogle Gadget and the Latitude website at maps.google.com/latitude. Once the deadline arrives, users will no longer be able to share their location and will see their list of friends on Latitude disappear.
Additionally, applications that use the Latitude API will no longer be able to access a user's location data but they will be allowed to continue to store data they have already received. Privacy and e-mail reminders will also be disabled as will check-ins from Google Maps for mobile.
The decision shouldn't really come as a surprise at this point considering Google essentially pushed the service aside years ago to focus on Google+. Moving forward, location sharing has already been added to Google+ for Android app and will be arriving on iOS soon, we're told.
There's also a new version of the Maps app for Android and iOS that delivers new navigation information like detailed traffic reports as well as an explore feature that dishes up places you might like to eat, drink, shop or sleep. The app does, however, do away with offline maps but they can still be accessed without an Internet connection by entering "OK Maps" into the search box when looking at an area you want to save for later.