"How can I see my real time location on Google Maps or share it with my friends or family members? I'm going on a solo trip, but want to share my real time location on Google Maps with my friends."
These days, a lot of people ask this question who would like to share their real time location on Google Maps or other apps. Well, you might be going out alone or just want others to know your present whereabouts. There can be all kinds of reasons to view and share your live location with others. To do that, you can take the assistance of Google Maps, Waze, and several other apps. In this guide, I'm going to tell you how to see a location in real time and share it with others in 4 different ways.
Part 1: See and Share Real Time Location with Google Maps [The Easiest Way]
Already used by millions of people, Google Maps is the most popular location and navigation app for smartphones. Apart from finding the exact location and direction for any place, it can also be used to share your real time location with others. Recently, Google has made Maps more social by including the Location Sharing feature. You can enable the GPS and network data on your phone and follow these steps to share Google Maps real time location.
Step 1. Firstly, launch Google Maps on your smartphone and tap on the hamburger icon from the top to visit its more options. From here, just tap on the "Share Location" button.
Step 2. If you are using the feature for the first time, then the app will display an informative prompt. Just read it and click on the "Get Started" button to continue.
Step 3. Now, your current location will be displayed on the screen so that you can see your real time location on Google Maps. Here, you can also select the duration to share your location. You can use the - and + buttons to adjust the duration or choose to share it until you disable this option.
Step 4. Afterward, you can select how you wish to share your location. You can directly share your real time location with your Google contacts or get a link that you can forward to others. You can also share it via third-party applications like Messages, Gmail, etc.
Step 5. Once you select an option, the application will automatically share your real time location with the chosen contact. In case if the location services feature is disabled on your device, then you will get the following prompt so that you can turn its GPS on.
Part 2: See and Share Real Time Location with what3words [The Most Accurate]
If you are looking for a more accurate way to see or share your real time location, then you can also try what3words. It is a smart geo-coding system that is based on Google Maps API and is available for web, iOS, and Android apps. It has encoded the entire world into 57 million 3m by 3m squares. Therefore, your shared location will have the accuracy of up to 3 meters, which is pretty spot-on. All the locations are encoded as a three-word set so make it simpler for us to remember the location. Here's how you can see or share a location in real time using what3words.
Step 1. To start with, install and launch the what3words application on your smartphone and look for any address in the search bar.
Step 2. This will automatically load the address on the interface with other details, like the three-word code.
Step 3. Now, tap on the "Share" feature from here and choose a contact or a third-party app to share your location with.
Step 4. If the contact is not using the app, then you can share your location via email. Just enter their email ID and share the current coordinates with them.
Part 3: See and Share Real Time Location with Waze [Best for Traffic]
Owned by Google, Waze is another popular navigation app that is used by many. Unlike Google Maps, which is based on places and locations, Waze is more dependent on traffic and routes. Therefore, if you are looking for a real time location sharing solution with traffic details, then you can try Waze. Here's a simple solution to see my real time location and share it via Waze.
Step 1. Install Waze on your device and make sure the other users also have Waze installed on their phone. After launching the app, tap on the Waze icon from the bottom of the screen.
Step 2. Now, you can just type any location to look for or simply select a saved location from its interface. Afterward, you can just tap on the share icon that is adjacent to the location.
Step 3. If you look for any location, just tap on it to get more options from Waze. If you want, you can also send your ETA from here to update the other user of your real-time movement in the traffic.
Step 4. In the end, just enter the name of the contact you wish to share your location in the "To" field and send your present coordinates.
Part 4: See and Share Real Time Location with WhatsApp [Social Location Sharing]
Owned by Facebook, WhatsApp is one of the most popular social IM apps out there that is already used by over a billion people. Apart from media content and documents, we can also share our live location with others on WhatsApp too. For this, the other contact has to be on WhatsApp and your device should be connected to an active internet connection. Also, make sure that its GPS feature is enabled for a precise live location sharing. Once your location is shared, the other user can tap on the location card to know your real-time whereabouts.
Step 1. To share your live location on WhatsApp, just launch the application and open the conversation of the contact you want to send your location.
Step 2. Now, tap on the attachment icon from the bottom of the screen to get various options to share (like photos and documents). To continue, just select the "Location" option.
Step 3. This will give you an option to either share your current location or your live location. Tap on the "Live Location" option and further select a duration for which you wish to share your location.
Step 4. That's it! Now you can just send your live location to the other user and it will automatically be updated on their phone till the specific duration.
I'm sure that after reading this guide, you would be able to see or share a location in real time using the best applications. For your convenience, I have come up with 4 different apps that can help you share your location with your friends and family. In this way, you can use these solutions in emergency and notify others of your whereabouts. Go ahead and try these methods to share your real time location with Google Maps, WhatsApp, what3words, or Waze.
