The official blog for Google Maps
Check in, gain status, and unlock offers at more places with Google Latitude
April 7, 2011
Last month
, we rolled out
Google Latitude
check-in offers for
60 places
around Austin. Today, we’re happy to announce that we’ve teamed up with some great partners to let you unlock check-in offers at thousands of places across the U.S. using Latitude for
Android
and
iPhone
. You can learn more at
google.com/latitude/checkin
.
Checking in lets you share the places that you visit and add context to your Latitude location for friends and family. At the same time, you can keep a history of where you’ve been while gaining status at the places you visit the most. When you gain status at places, they can now reward your loyalty with check-in offers. From discounts to a free snack, check-in offers let places give you an extra reason to keep coming back. Here’s how to get started:
Check in
.
Check in using Latitude
to share places with friends when you’re there.
Gain status
. Keep checking in every time you visit your favorite places to gain status there. You can tap your current status level to see your progress towards the next status level.
Unlock offers
. Places can make check-in offers available to you at each of their 3 status levels. When you gain higher status, you’ll unlock any available check-in offers.
From a Place page, check in, see your current status, and find check-in offers (left); tap your current status to see your progress to the next level (right).
You’ll be able to see both available and locked offers at places. To redeem an available check-in offer, just select it from the Place page, tap
Redeem
, and show the full offer on your phone.
See available and locked offers (left); tap available ones to redeem them (right).
By default, you can become a Regular, VIP, or Guru at places, but we’re also letting partners create their own status levels for you to achieve (coming soon on iPhone). For example, you can become a Champion of Taste at Quiznos or an AE Gold Shopper at American Eagle Outfitters, unlocking their check-in offers at the same time. Take a peek at some of our partners and their check-in offers below or see all of them at
google.com/latitude/checkin
.
American Eagle Outfitters: Up to 20% off your total purchase
Quiznos: Free sub when you buy a sub of equal or greater value
Arby’s: Free regular roast beef sandwich with purchase of a 22 oz. drink
RadioShack: Up to 20% off qualifying, in-store purchases
Finish Line: Save $10 on purchases over $50
Macy’s (Coming soon)
To start unlocking offers with Latitude, update to the latest version of
Google Maps for Android
(Latitude is a feature of Maps; requires Android 1.6+) or the
Latitude app for iPhone
. So start checking in at places when you’re there, and you might just unlock some great offers along the way.
Posted by Douglas Gresham, Software Engineer, Google Maps for mobile team
See your location history dashboard and more with Google Maps 5.3 for Android
April 4, 2011
[Cross-posted from the
Google Mobile Blog
]
Today, we’re happy to announce
Google Maps 5.3 for Android
, which lets you see your Google Location History dashboard, check in at “home,” and add your own aspects for places when rating them.
Location History dashboard
If you’ve
enabled Location History
for
Google Latitude
, you’ve been able to visualize interesting trends in your location history with a
personal dashboard
at
google.com/latitude
on your computer. Now, you can also see your dashboard on your phone by tapping
View location history
from your Latitude profile. You’ll be able to see right on your phone how far you’ve travelled as well as an estimate of how much time you’ve spent at home, at work, or out.
If you haven’t yet, you can enable Location History from your
computer
or from Latitude’s Settings menu on your phone. Location History is 100% opt-in and is private to you and nobody else. You can always delete any of your location history from the
Manage History
tab or correct the estimated work and home locations from the
dashboard
on your computer.
View your location history dashboard from your Latitude profile on your phone and see estimates of where you’ve spent your time.
Check in at home
Now that you can see how much time you spend at “home”, you might want to let friends know when you’re there.
Checking in at places using Latitude
is another way to keep a history of places you’ve been and also lets you share when you’re there. I love letting friends and family know when I’m at a cafe or park, but sometimes I want them to know that I’m relaxing at home or made it back safely from a road trip. So now, I can start checking in at “home” in Latitude:
Check in from Latitude and tap “Home - Tap to set your location” at the bottom of the nearby places list if you don’t have one yet.
Use the estimated current address or enter in your home address yourself.
Once you’ve checked in at home once, “Home” will appear at the top of the list when you’re checking in near there.
Like Latitude and other check-ins, checking in at home is entirely opt-in. Your set “home” location is not searchable and only you can check in there. Just like any other check-in, you can choose with whom to share your home check-ins (along with your name and address info).
Add your own aspects for places
When you’re rating places on the go in Maps using
Google Places with Hotpot
, you could always quickly leave feedback on a specific aspect or characteristic of a place, such as the food or ambiance. Before, we’d automatically include aspects about places that were commonly mentioned in reviews. Now, you can add your own aspects for each place. So if you think a place has a beautiful view or great music, you can add it yourself and quickly share it with the world.
When rating places, you can add your own aspects like “music” for places and leave quick feedback.
To get started, update
Google Maps from Android Market
on devices with Android OS 1.6+ anywhere Google Maps and Latitude are already available.
Posted by Kenneth Leftin, Software Engineer, Google Maps for mobile team
Check in, gain status, and unlock offers with Google Latitude in Austin
March 10, 2011
Do you have a go-to restaurant you love – a place where everybody knows your name? If you’ve been checking in there from
Google Latitude
in
Google Maps
for Android, we want to help you get a little extra love right back. After launching
check-ins for Latitude
last month, today we’re rolling out our first check-in offers at more than 60
great places
in Austin, Texas.
Checking in from Google Latitude lets you easily share the places you go with friends, and you can even choose to get
check-in notifications or automatically check in
to make it even easier. In addition to sharing places, you can also gain status as a “Regular”, “VIP”, or “Guru” at places depending on how often you’ve checked in there. You can even see your progress along the way by tapping your current status. I’ve been checking in almost everywhere I go, and after a steady stream of caffeination at my favorite coffee shop, I’m proud to be a Guru there!
From the Place page, find available check-in offers (left); tap your status to see where you stand and find your check-in history (right).
In addition to pride, you can now unlock check-in offers that places have created for your status level. So, a restaurant or shop can give their Regulars a reason to keep coming back and their Gurus an awesome reward for their loyalty. Check-in offers can be as creative as places want for any of the three status levels. You can find places where check-in offers are available in Google Maps for Android search results and Place pages.
See if a place has check-in offers available in your Google Maps for Android search results.
You’ll be able to see both available and locked check-in offers. And once you gain status and unlock a check-in offer, just tap
Redeem
and show your phone to use it. Learn more at
google.com/mobile/checkin
.
See locked offers and ones available at your status level (left); tap an unlocked one and redeem it (right).
We’re kicking off check-in offers in Austin this week, and we’re working on bringing them to more people and more places. If you’re in town for South by Southwest this week or just happen to live near Austin, find check-in offers at some of its finest establishments, such as:
Free coffee for Regulars at
Frank
Free sundae from the cafe for VIPs at
Toy Joy
Buy a slice and get one free during certain hours for VIPs at
East Side Pies
10% off any upcoming event book for Gurus at
BookPeople
20% off select merchandise for Gurus at
Waterloo Records
Find
all the check-in offer locations in Austin on a map
, and then see more details by opening their Place pages in Google Maps for Android.
To get started unlocking offers, update to
Google Maps 5.2 in Android Market
(requires Android 1.6+) and tap
Check in here
from a Place page or from Latitude’s menu. If you haven’t yet, join Latitude and check in wherever you go. And if you’ve got an iPhone, the Latitude app for iPhone will be updated with check-ins and check-in offers soon.
Posted by Kenny Stoltz, Product Manager, Google Maps Team
Geotagging photos with Panoramio and Google Latitude
February 4, 2011
[Cross-posted from the
Panoramio Blog
]
It is 9 a.m. and the thermometer shows -15°C. I have a
Nexus S
with
Google Latitude
in my left pocket and my new Lumix LX-5 in the right one. I am in Davos and I am ready for a fantastic day of skiing when I decide to use the new feature of Panoramio: geotagging photos with Google Latitude.
Panoramio
is a community photos website that enables digital photographers to geo-locate, store and organize their photographs -- and to view those photographs in Google Earth.
Google Latitude allows you to share your location with friends and view their location on a map. When enabled,
Google Latitude History
allows you to store your previous locations and this allows you to match your photos with the locations stored in Google Latitude History.
By combining Panoramio and Google Latitude your photos get geotagged automatically as the time stamp of the photos is matched with your location record in Google Latitude History. To use this feature you need to explicitly enable it in your
Settings
page in Panoramio. With your permission, Panoramio will access your Google Latitude History to find out your location at the time when your photos are taken, so make sure the time in your camera is correct and it matches the value you entered in the Panoramio Settings page.
Using Google Latitude while skiing allows you to find your friends when you get lost on the slopes, and at the same time it allows you to focus on taking nice photos not worrying about the location where you are taking them.
Mapping photos within the city is normally not a problem as you can easily remember street names, points of interest, etc. It is much more difficult to do it in the countryside and that is why I decided to give the feature a whirl while skiing in Davos:
Thanks to Google Latitude, my photos were geotagged just after uploading them in Panoramio. The day was great, snow was perfect, weather was amazing and when I arrived home my photos were already geo-positioned.
For more information about this feature please check our
help content
and as always we will be happy to hear your feedback in the
Panoramio forum
.
Posted by Gerard Sanz, Panoramio Community Manager
Labels
#streetview
#treasuremap
+1
3D
8bitmaps
Adwords Express
Africa
Amazon
Andorra
Android
api
Art Project
Audi
biking
Boost
Boulder
Brazil
Bulgaria
Business Photos
Business View
businesses
Canada
check-in
community
competition
contest
crisis response
Culture
custom maps
developer
Developers
directions
disaster response
discovery
earth outreach
education
Emmy Awards
Enterprise
Estonia
Europe
Explore
Fusion Tables
gadgets
Gibraltar
GMM
google
Google Earth
Google Earth Engine
Google Map Maker
Google Maps
Google Maps API
Google Maps Engine
Google Maps for Mobile
Google Maps Gallery
Google Maps Navigation
Google Maps Transit
Google Places
Google Plus
Google Search
Google Street View
google.org
Google+
googlenew
Grand Canyon
ground truth
Halloween
historical
history
holiday
Hotpot
Hungary
imager
imagery
Indoor Maps
iOS
iPhone
Iraq
Japan
Latitude
Latvia
layers
LBC
Lithuania
London
Making of Maps
Malaysia
Mall of America
Map Maker
Maps Blog
Maps Gallery
mapsgl
Matt Harding
Mexico
Mobile
Monticello
My Maps
my places
my tracks
National Geographic
navigation
new Google Maps
oblique imagery
ocean
offline maps
Olympics
Outreach
Pakistan
Panoramio
Parks Canada
Pegman
Photo Spheres
photo tours
photos
picasa
Polar Bears
Quiz
real estate
restaurants
road trips
Russia
Santa
Santa Tracker
search stories
SketchUp
Slovakia
Slovenia
South Sudan
space
Spain
sports
Street View
summer
SXSW
Tags
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson Foundation
Tip of the week
tips
tour guide
traffic
Train
Transit
travel
trees
Trekker
Trike
Trolley
U.S. National Park Service
Ukraine
University of Virginia
Valentine's Day
Veterans Day
Views
voice search
walking
Waze
weather
webgl
Your Timeline
zagat
Archive
2016
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2015
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2014
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2013
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2012
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2011
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2010
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2009
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2008
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2007
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Feed
Google
on
Follow @googlemaps
Follow
Give us feedback in our
Product Forums
.
Follow
