loopt announced that its social mapping service is going to launch with mobile operator Sprint in the coming weeks. The loopt service will allow Sprint customers to share their location with friends, send proximity-based messages and view location-based photos and content on the go using the GPS capabilities of select Sprint phones.

"The most common mobile question in the world is 'Where are
you?' and we're excited that loopt will be able to answer that question for Sprint customers who choose to participate," said loopt chief executive officer and co-founder, Sam Altman. "The way we communicate on the mobile phone is about to change forever, as loopt on Sprint puts an end to missed connections and facilitates real-world interactions."

The loopt service is permission-based, allowing users to share location information only with their loopt-friends via private networks. The service automatically updates the location of every user belonging to a certain private network and displays the information directly on a map on the phone's screen. loopt users can choose to turn location-sharing on or off for a certain friend or for all friends at once. In addition, loopt can be configured to send alerts when a friend is nearby and also allows users to sent proximity-based messages to friends in a certain range.

Another useful feature offered by the service is the ability to tag camera pictures with the user's location and share them with friends. The saved pictures, together with the status message, can be stored in the form of a journal. Users' friends will be able to view the journal, as well as add entries to it. loopt can also be used to tag favorite places on the map, allowing users to create events and establish rendezvous points with friends.

Expected to launch in the coming weeks, the loopt service will be compatible initially with more than 25 Sprint phones and will be available for a subscription cost of $2.99 per month, plus standard data charges.