I have just installed Google Latitude and learning how it works. My friend should be asleep with his wife (my?

sister), but his "circle" or profile keeps moving. Can I be absolutely sure that my friend is on the move, or could it be a glitch in the system?



Please help me understand this as accurately as you can. ThxI have just installed Google Latitude and learning how it works. My friend should be asleep with his wife (my?
There are four (4) possible settings with Google Latitude.



1) Automatic update (street level) - This means that Latitude will update the location down to the street name, at times, even provide a possible address if accurate enough. This function is set by default when the account was created, but the user can change how accurate to pinpoint the individual.



2) Second option is to have it pinpoint only to "City level", meaning it will only map out the city the person is in, not the actual address. This may be the level currently set with your "friend" and this may be why it appears that he/she is moving around because Google is giving an approximation of the location which gets updated every 10 minutes or so.



3) Third option is that the user can manually control where to indicate their location. For example, it is possible to physically be in California, but manually set Google Latitude to indicate that they are in Paris, France.



4) Fourth option is just to have it NOT update at all.



This only works when the phone is ON, and NOT in sleep mode or OFF completely. Most smart phones such as Blackberries, Android, Windows Mobile, and iPhones enter "sleep mode", when this happens, Google Latitude can not update, on rare occasions, some users will allow Latitude to use basic GPS in low power mode which will give just an estimated location of the phone.



Understand that Latitude tracks the location of the phone, not the user. I can give my phone to my friend or any other person, Latitude does not know it is me or somebody else. So, your "friend" could very well be home sleeping, but somebody else has their phone, or location has been set to City Level, or it only updates when the phone is not in sleep mode.