Quick! Grab your Google Latitude data before it's too late!

The latest horse to be sent out to pasture from Google's stables is Latitude. Little notice was given when the service's retirement was revealed -- albeit quite quietly -- back in July. In a blog post about the latest version of Maps, Google mentioned in passing that "Latitude and check-ins will be retired. These features will no longer be a part of the new Google Maps app, and will stop functioning in older versions by August 9".

Pay a visit to the About Latitude page and you will indeed see confirmation that Google will close "Google Latitude, Latitude for iPhone, the Latitude API, the public badge, the iGoogle Gadget, and the Latitude website on August 9". Well the date is now upon us. The end is nigh.

But if you're quick -- and we mean quick -- you can still back up your Latitude data through Google Takeout. If you have other Google data that you'd like to download as an archive you can pick and choose what you'd like to include in your backup, but you can also jump right in and create a Latitude only archive.

So if you’re keen to maintain access to all of the location data previously stored in Latitude, saddle up and get moving -- the clock is ticking!

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