Google’s new Latitude Leaderboards suggest gamified check-ins are coming to Google+

Googles recent update to Google Maps for Androidhit the Market with a small changelog of bug fixes and improvements to battery performance, but the search giant also appears to have added a new gaming element to its Latitude location service.

The new update sees Latitude Leaderboards quietly launch within the app, awarding points to users that check-in using Googles rarely-used independent check-in service. As soon as a Latitude location is selected within the app, a small leaderboard is displayed and points tallied to the users leaderboard score.

Google has one reference to the new feature, buried deep within the Support section on the Google Maps for Android FAQ, where it says:

Now when you earn points from checking in at different locations, youll be able to see how the number of points... [via The Next Web]