Open Google Maps on your cell phone, press a button and the map instantly shifts to your current general location—no GPS required.

Press another button and start a search for the nearest Starbucks, complete with directions. Sound good? You can try it right now with the new Google Maps with My Location service, currently in beta.

It's free (aside from any connection charges incurred under limited data plans) and works with most Web-enabled mobiles, including Palm and Windows Mobile smartphones, Symbian devices and Java phones.

To get started, you first download and install the software on your phone. Then whenever you want to "find" yourself, you simply open the program and press 0 on your keypad. A blue dot will then appear on the map indicating your location, and you can get directions or find local services from there.

It uses GPS if you have it. For non-GPS phones, the My Location feature works by estimating your proximity to the nearest cell tower.

At first, Google says the cell locator feature should be accurate to within 1,000 meters. But it will be closer than that in denser areas and is also designed to improve as more people use the service and as Google learns more about each tower's idiosyncrasies.

GPS is more precise, but even GPS phones can make use of the cell location feature in areas where a GPS signal is hard to get—such as indoors or around tall buildings.

At the January Macworld Expo, Steve Jobs showed off a custom version of this technology for the iPhone. The new Maps application combines Google's cell tower location information with Wi-Fi router location information from Skyhook Wireless for a more accurate result than either could provide alone.

No matter what brand of phone you have, it's getting easier to find yourself.