The google+ share function got a major upgrade and release as “Trusted Contacts” in google play a few months back.
It’s a lower power consumption spot tracker, as well as emergency beacon and friend finder. You can request location of a Tursted Contact, and if they dont turn it down the phone will send a marker back to the requester after 5 mins. Handy to see if someone is en route to get an ETA but theyre not answering their phone while driving for example.
for live spot tracking my colleague and I use glympse. Its very handy if we are converging on a site and exploring the area/nearest bar.
The function described in the OPs link doesnt appear to be available to me yet on Android Maps.