“Where am I?” is a question even those running for vice president have asked themselves in public. Plus there are the corresponding questions “Where are you?” and “What can I do once I get there?” This is a problem Plazes ( www.plazes.com) solves through a grass-roots approach and a mapping service that identifies where you are, where you’ve been and what other discoveries you can make wherever you roam.

Plazes is a free Web service used to share your location – called a “Plaze” – with others, as well as to manage and publish listings of your favorite “plazes.”

Do you want others to know where all Spokane’s Wi-Fi hotspots are?

Plazes does that: This story was prompted by reader mail to .TXT wondering where public Wi-Fi spots were. The result is the Spokane-area Internet Hotspots Plazes group (https://plazes.com/groups/16).

People who sign up can go to the Plazes Web site and see where other users are now or where they’ve already created favorite locations.

The service works best when you download and install Plazer software.

Then, when connected via a wired or wireless network – or using your cell phone – the software locates you on the Plazes Web map, and your location can be identified to those you allow to see it. Plazer software is able to do this because it uses each computer’s or cell phone’s unique MAC (media access control) address, which is similar to a serial number.

When you visit a new location not yet identified on the Plazes map, the Plazer software walks you through adding that locality to its system. Each Plazes user decides how much personal information is seen by others. When you close your Plazes account, the location information associated with it is destroyed.

The Plazer software also gives you real-time updates on friends’ activities and automatically provides status displays in Skype or AIM instant messenger applications.

Plazes is mobile on your cell phone too, via SMS (short message service) text messaging. You can update your location and stay updated about your contacts’ current locations via SMS. You can also use Plazes’ SMS method to find movies, bars or shops in and around a neighborhood you’re visiting.

The SMS service with Plazes takes some work; a person has to key in a query and ask for a status report on, say, bars nearby.

But SMS is widely used and that’s why Plazes adopted it, said Peterson.

Added co-founder Stefan Kellner: “In the future you will see us extend the system more with the mobile (cell-phone) browser. Many people are reluctant to install software on their smart phones.”

Plazes is also meant to be a community, part of the current Web trend. Because the network for Plazes users consists of both people and their identified locations, the Web site allows its users several tools to communicate and exchange messages or data.

Also, any Plazes user can create a group and then invite others to join. One can find Plazes groups about airports, celebrity spotting, Wi-Fi locations and flickr photo activity.

One mashup function at Plazes, for instance, can determine whether the location you’re at is also tagged and identified by users of the popular photo-sharing site flickr. If it is, your Plazes display screen will then give you images from flickr that relate to the location you’re visiting.

Plazes even has code, called a widget, which you can use on your personal blog or on MySpace to show people where you are, if you choose.

Plazes is supported on an advertising model with no fees to the users, said Felix Peterson, co-founder. The company was launched in Germany but has members worldwide.