Ways To Share Your Exact Location (And Why You’d Want To Do This!)

In today’s digital world we have a wondrous amount of technology at our disposal. We can use technology for practically anything, and one interesting thing we can use it for is to track our exact physical location. In the past, sharing our location with someone was a slow process – we would have to use landmarks or a map, and then contact them via telephone or even post – this could take days! This is no longer the case however due to smartphones and GPS technology. This article looks at ways to share your exact location and the reasons why you may wish to do this. 

Why Would You Want to Share Your Exact Location?

So why exactly would you want the world to know where you are? There are actually many different reasons – one of the main reasons people share their location or tag themselves in on social media, for example, is simply to show off – you know the type; “look at me, I am posing on a gorgeous beach in the Caribbean whilst you are stuck at work” – we can share our location to share our amazing lives and to make our friends and families envious.
 
On a more serious note, however, sharing your location is also a fantastic way to let your family and friends know you are safe. If you are travelling abroad, or have business in a big city for example – you could use one of the methods below to let your partner or children know you have arrived safely. On the flip side, your family could use such a feature to let you know they are safe too. Location tracking can be used to give peace of mind and reassurance.

Finally, location sharing can also be used to organise meetings and social outings. Let’s say you have organised a work outing at a local pub – each person could use a location sharing app to tag themselves in so that you can all meet up in the correct bar – handy!

Six Ways to Share Your Exact Location

As you can see, sharing your exact location can actually be a fantastic idea that can help in many situations. The following are several popular methods used to share your current location – note that all of them require a smartphone with GPS tracking enabled!

1. Smartphone App – Glympse

Glympse is a free app for both Android and iOS devices that allows you to show your current GPS location to your friends and family. It is also widely used by companies, to provide useful insight to customers as to location of an engineer or other service personnel. The GPS tracker pings at set intervals for a certain time period and during that period those who you have shared your location with can see your movements and current destination. It is also possible to share location details through email, text and even social media such as Facebook and Twitter. 

2. Smartphone App – Life360 Family Locator
 
Family Locator is another superb free app for Android and iOS devices that is centred around letting your family members know where you are. The app has some cool features such as a location history and a panic option that lets you send out a message to your family members if you need help quickly. Furthermore, you can set pre-defined locations such as your house or place of work as “hot spots” – the app then automatically checks you in or out when you arrive/depart at these common locations.

3. Smartphone App – Find my Friends

Find my Friends has both a free version (with a limited number of check-ins) and a premium version that removes these restrictions. This app allows you to share locations with your friends and also create common location tags that are perfect if you are meeting up. The technology is based on Google Maps and is really easy and intuitive to understand. As with Family Locator, you can also send out emergency location tags to your contacts.

4. Smartphone App – Trigger

Trigger is a slightly different app but still acts as a superb location tracker/sharing device. This app allows you to set up a range of different “triggers” such as Wi-Fi activation and automatic Bluetooth connectivity. You can also use GPS and geotagging features to send automatic messages when you arrive at pre-defined locations such as your home or place of work.

5. Social Media platform – Google+
 
This is a little-known feature of the less than popular social media platform Google+ but it is actually one of its best offerings for those who know it exists. Using Google+ you can actually tag your location using Google Maps and then share it with your contacts. The only issue is, is that you have to add your friends and family as contacts in your Google+ circles – as not everyone has Google+, this feature could best be used for your close friends and family – simply sit down together and install the app and add each other as contacts and you are good to go.

6. Carrier apps

Many mobile network carriers actually provide dedicated locator apps for their customers. These apps or plans are usually premium and you can pay a monthly fee depending on how many family members you want to be able to track. These apps are possibly the most sophisticated and have a range of different features such as tracking from smartphones and PCs and also features to locate stolen devices. The only downside is obviously the associated monthly cost – if you can’t afford such a price, then one of the above 5 options may be more suitable.

You should now have a solid idea of the different means you can use to track your location and share it with your friends and family. Whether you want to let your family know you have arrived safely a work, or if you want to organise a social session with your friends, these apps can provide peace of mind and let your inner circle know exactly where you are.

Writer’s Bio: Lewis Murawski is a Director of Kahootz Media. He has been ranking websites on the first page of Google for more than 10 years. Connect with Lewis on LinkedIn.