As we mentioned yesterday, Google is shutting down latitude - a product I personally didn't use outside of just experimenting with it, but apparently has a loyal user base.
Google's Maps Community Manager, Abby, posted a thread in the Google Maps Help forum answering some questions about the closure of Latitude. She wrote:
Today we’re announcing that Google Latitude is no longer part of the Google Maps app, and we're retiring Latitude on August 9th, 2013. Products being retired include Google 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.This means that after August 9th, your friends list will be deleted and you’ll lose the ability to share your location with your Latitude friends. There will also be some changes to Location Reporting and Location History, including changes to third-party applications that use Google Latitude. Please see the Help Center for more information.
We understand some of you still want to see your friends and family on a map, which is why we've added location sharing and check-ins to Google+ for Android (coming soon to iOS).
There is a large help document on latitudes closure with more answers.
I am honestly surprised by the number of complaints. I've counted dozens of complaint threads, here are some that I am linking to.
It seems like most Latitude users aren't going to be happy with the Google+ Checkin alternative.
Forum discussion at Google Maps Help.
