Google: now making you even more visible

This week, Google cranked out several tools that exploit the search company's strength in the LBS (location based service) model. Betanews took a look at one for Android, and one for Gmail.

Google Labs is a repository of potentially advantageous little gadgets, so when new product is pushed through, it usually warrants solid consideration. On Tuesday, a Gmail lab was premiered that carried a solid concept: Show the geographic origin of a user's e-mails as a signature.

Perhaps it's a novel concept because one is reminded of famous correspondences in history like those from Thoreau to Emerson that open with "Concord, 1843." This particular Gmail lab can add a user's location in the e-mail signature, determined by his public IP address.

So the modern day Thoreau's Gmail would automatically include "Sent From: Concord, Massachusetts, USA" if his browser had a version of Gears that supported the Location Module. Wired complained about the lab's lack of granularity, and that it doesn't let you lie about where you are located, but it can be turned off if it's really that much of a problem.

Last night, My Tracks for Android was released, an application with a much more location sensitive nature than the previously mentioned Gmail lab. By turning on the GPS transceiver in a user's G1, his movement is fully tracked.

This includes live speed and elevation tracking which is recorded on a topographic map, ideally suited for keeping records of bike rides, hikes, or running and climbing excursions. When a circuit is completed, the statistics can be exported to a Google My Maps plot, a Google Docs spreadsheet, or both. This data can then be shared with friends as a simple URL, or can be publicly searched through the new "user generated content" tab in Google Maps. My Tracks can even send the data out in real time Tweets through Android Twitter apps like Twidroid.