Today, Snap Inc. unveiled a new stalking location sharing feature called Snap Map. Similar to other location sharing services like Facebook Messenger's recently launched Live Location, Snap Map allows users to share their location in real time with their friends. From the camera view in the Snapchat app, simply pinch to reveal the map. Per Snap, "We've built a whole new way to explore the world! See what's happening, find your friends, and get inspired to go on an adventure!" Friends who have opted in show up as "Actionmoji". For the privacy minded, users have the ability to share their location with all of their friends, some friends, or just stay in "Ghost Mode" to stop location sharing altogether.
Snapchat notes that location sharing is only active with the Snapchat app itself is open and it's turned off by default. If the app isn't open for several hours, your Actionmoji disappears completely from the map which hopefully means there's no background location tracking.
In addition to sharing with friends, Snap Map also includes the ability to share to "Our Story" which allows non-friends to see collaborative highlights on the map of where content is being shared. For example, if many people are sharing their location at a concert, Our Story will show the concert as a sort of "heat map". Other heat maps will show up as more people share their story to Our Story.
According to TechCrunch, Snap Map appears to have been copied specific features such as Ghost Mode and one finger map scrolling from startup Zenly. Snap reportedly attempted to purchase Zenly for a large sum but Zenly declined.
Snap Map also comes on the heels of its Spectacles glasses which allow for short videos to be taken directly from the glasses. Presumably, one could shoot video with the Spectacles and share that content on Snap Map. Either way, this provides yet another way for Snapchat addicts to share more with their friends.
https://www.techspot.com/news/69821-snap-unveils-location-sharing-feature-snap-map.html
