Oct 7, 2010 08:15 GMT  ·  By

While there's been plenty of talk about the hot startups in the geolocation game, Foursquare in particular, or about Facebook recent entry in the space, Google has one of the oldest and still one of the most popular location-based services out there, Latitude. And now, you can check it out on your desktop as well.

"We’re happy to introduce an easier way to use Google Latitude from your computer at google.com/latitude," Kenneth Leftin, Software Engineer in the Google Mobile Team, wrote.

"You can now see where your friends are, start using Latitude apps, and share your location all from one place when you’re at your computer," he added.

"We launched Latitude with a desktop iGoogle gadget to help you stay in touch with friends and family that may not have a smartphone. We’ve since learned that a desktop experience is important to you even if you’re already using Latitude on your phone," he explained.

For those who just can't get enough of Latitude, they can now keep in touch on their computers and do most of the things they can on their smartphones, with the added comfort of using a full-blown desktop.

With the Latitude website, you can see where any of your friends are at any given time, by using Google Maps, just like on your phone. You can also manage your friends, add new ones or accept sharing requests. You can control your privacy settings from the same page.

The new website also enables you to use of the Latitude apps. In the History or Apps page you can see any of these apps, Google Location History, Google Location Alerts, Google Talk Location Status and Google Public Location Badge.

Finally, one of the biggest updates is that you can share your location from your desktop as well. As long as you're using a browser that supports location services, you can share your whereabouts with your friends.