Location sharing is becoming more and more popular, as people discover new uses for it. The feature that first appeared with foursquare years ago is experiencing a new youth. Aside from many apps specifically built around location sharing, more apps such as Google Maps, Messenger, and Twitter are adding location sharing to the list of options.
With location sharing many situations, which were complex and frustrating to solve before, like finding your friends inside crowded music festivals or in unfamiliar parts of cities, have become problems that are pretty easy to solve. Of course, there are many more situations where location sharing can be of great help.
Traveling abroad and wanting your family and friends to know where you are? Have a child and want to know the exact location of the child while they travel from home to school and back? Working as a tourist guide and wanting to know where your tour group members are at all times, trying to keep them from getting lost in the city? Location sharing can solve all these problems, and more. Let’s check out some top example uses for location sharing apps.
Organizing Meetings
Do you want to meet with friends who came to your city? Or just trying to show the city to a business partner who is in town for the first time?
With location sharing, you can simply share your location with friends or business partners and easily organize meetings. Just share your location and the apps lead the way. It’s very easy, much easier than setting up a meeting and then spending dozens of minutes on your cell phone while trying to explain where the meeting point is.
Now, you can just share location, arrive at the meeting place and let location sharing apps lead your friends to your location. Instead of waiting for them outside a hotel just let them know your location, they will be able to find their own way to you via GPS, and they will get to know the city while traveling to the meeting spot.
Also, you can share the location of a place besides your own location – like a famous city spot – by using the bookmarking feature in Turtler, for example, or even a series of locations and thereby provide a virtual tour of the city for your friends so they can get to know the city before meeting up with you.
Using Location Sharing While at Music Festivals
Music festivals. They can be great, especially with friends. Until one of them (or you) get lost. Even if you visited the festival before, getting lost is very easy. So, instead of trying to find others via chat apps or calls (usually Wi-Fi is horrendous and the noise is too high to understand the person you’re talking to on the phone) you and your friends should just share location and then, when (not if, it’s when) one of you disappears just look for them on your phone.
They will also be able to see where others are, and this can be very handy when splitting up to see different gigs, only to meet up again later to visit some stage together. Instead of explaining to each other where you are, which can take some time, just share location and you’ll be able to meet up much faster.
Traveling Abroad
All of us who travel abroad know how our family can be worried about our safety. Instead of calling them or messaging them at regular intervals, just share your location and they will know where you are at all times. Much better than leaving them wondering where you might be (and imagining the worst case scenarios) in case they called and you were unable to answer the call because you took a shower in the hotel bathroom.
Sharing Location With Your Child
Parents, especially these days, are more and more worried when their children go outside. Instead of making them text you, letting you know they are at school, or at friends, sharing their location shows you.
They don’t have to share their location at all times. For instance, they can share location while traveling to the school and back, or when going to their team practice. Also, you can share your location with them so they know where you are if you agreed to pick them after school.
Let Your Partner Know You’ll Be Staying Late at Work
Instead of calling them, you can just share your location with your partner while driving home from work, and they will know where you are and how long you’ll need to arrive home. Great way to inform your partner you’ll be running late, much better than calling them at the last second and making them suspect you’re doing something shady (while just trying to pick a gift for the anniversary).
Knowing Where Your Employees Are
This can be really handy, especially in big companies. Instead of wondering where your employees are, just ask them to share their location with you. This way you will be able to track their location.
In companies where employees are often in the field, in sales businesses or real estate companies, knowing your agents’ location is crucial. So, instead of calling them, just tell them to share their location with you. You can even share the location of the house an agent should show to clients instead of explaining to them how to find it. Sharing a location is much easier than just giving your agents addresses; they will know where to go from the start instead of looking for the real estate via addresses within navigation apps.
Also, real estate agents can arrange meetings with clients much faster by sharing the location of the property instead of giving the address of the property.
Organizing a surprise party
Surprise parties can go south because of a variety of reasons. Maybe the lucky person is staying late at work, or maybe they are leaving work early, just the day the party should take place on. Instead of wondering where they are (or making some friends follow them, making sure the person doesn’t discover the surprise), just ask them to share their location with you, with the excuse of wanting to know where they are, or wanting to meet up.
Also, you can track other party guests, making sure they won’t arrive early, or to learn they are running late. With location sharing, organizing a surprise party becomes much easier.
Tourist Guides Keep Track of Their Groups
If you are working as a tourist guide, you are probably aware that keeping track of your group can be a real chore sometimes. Instead of waving a flag at all times (or using some other means to let know people where you are at) ask the people to add you to their contact list and then share your location with them.
This way they will always know where you are and will be able to follow you no matter if they have never been to the city before. Tourists can get lost in a second, just by stopping at the souvenir shop or wanting to take pics of some attraction. Instead of keeping a constant focus on them, ask your group to share their location with you and you’ll always know if someone stayed behind. Much easier than searching for people every five minutes and always asking them to follow you.
College Professors Use Location Sharing So Students Know Where the Next Class Will Be Held
Freshman year of college can be very frustrating, especially the first couple of months until students get to know the campus and classroom locations. So, instead of telling them the psychology class will be in classroom 2-B on the second floor of southwest building (they’ve never been there and will need some time before finding out where the classroom is), just share the location with them.
Instead of wandering around campus looking for the classroom, they are notified their professor is sharing the location, and know exactly where to go. Much, much faster than trying to find the classroom inside buildings they have never visited before.
Keeping Track of Your Students on a Field Trip
If you’re a teacher who needs to make sure that all of your students are accounted for while on a field trip, you know the definition of frustration and worry. Kids who always want to wander around; who don’t care for the fact that you are responsible for them, and who just don’t understand they can get lost in a matter of seconds can be very tough to keep track of.
Instead of losing your mind, always making sure they are all accounted for, not knowing if some kid decided to buy a soda or food, or to take a perfect selfie in front of a museum exhibit not realizing the group moved on, just make them share their location with you.
This way you’ll always know where they are, and won’t need to experience high-stress levels every time the school decides that taking 30 teens to the local museum, theater, or historic monument, would be a good idea.
Conclusion
There are a myriad of use cases and moments where location sharing could be of useful convenience, a time-saving utility, and even critically helpful for the safety of one’s family or children. Whether using the feature within common apps like Google Maps or Facebook Messenger, or in specialized location sharing apps like Glympse, Life360 or Turtler, these GPS-powered features can be a lifesaver and easy to use once you get the hang of it.
