Snapchat has announced that it plans to add real-time location sharing to Snap Map, the geolocation-based platform built atop its ephemeral messaging service, as part of a collaboration with the It’s On Us program devoted to preventing sexual assault on college campuses.
Screenshots of the upcoming feature depict a straightforward process of sharing what Snapchat is calling a “Live Location” with another person—the company says it’s specifically meant “for trusted friends and family”—to “coordinate meetups or help you stay safe on your way home.”
Users can then choose to share their Live Location with another user for 15 minutes, one hour, or eight hours; they can also end the session early by pressing a prominent Stop Sharing button. (Which, according to The Verge, won’t send a notification to the user receiving the location data.)
“It’s On Us and Snapchat are teaming up to help young people keep each other safe—online and in real life—and combat campus sexual assault,” It’s On Us says on the page dedicated to its partnership with Snapchat. “Through a new safety tool in the Snap Map and an expansion of the in-app resource portal ‘Here For You,’ Snapchat and It’s On Us are helping students look out for one another and creating a safer space for students across the country.”
TechCrunch reports that Snapchat is combating potential abuse of the Live Location feature by limiting it to one-to-one sessions between mutual friends; there is no option to make this location information available to every friend at once nor a way to share the data with non-friends.
