Patent ID: 8050690

Claim:
A computer based method for sharing a user's location contextual information, comprising: a) a mobile phone or another electronic device capable of determining or accessing said user's current location from a mobile positioning system; b) said current location comprising of geographic location coordinates of said user's geographic location at that time, as determined within accuracy limitations of said device or said mobile positioning system; c) said geographic location coordinates comprising of latitude and longitude or alternatively postal street address of said geographic location; d) storing the geographic location coordinates of any user-specified locations specified or saved by said user; e) said location contextual information comprising of a plurality of descriptive name, category, and other textual or graphical representation of a geographic location; f) associating said location contextual information with said current or user-specified locations; g) one or more contacts or applications that said location contextual information corresponding to said user's current location is to be shared with or provided to; h) determining if said contacts or applications are authorized to receive said location contextual information based on criteria specified by said user; i) providing said location contextual information to said contacts or applications without providing said geographic location coordinates of said current location; whereby the method enables said user to share said location contextual information indicating location status of said user without having to provide said geographic location coordinates of said user.