That is no secret Google, as well as other major technology companies, knows a lot about you. Probably a lot more than you think they do. And while that is generally very creepy, it can sometimes produce cool results for a short time, before it gets creepy again. Example: You can start the year by stalking yourself with Google Maps.
As noted by 9to5Google, Google Maps is currently rolling out the “Timeline Update for 2020,” an email that summarizes the places you’ve been based on your location history. While this recap is also available monthly, the outlet notes, the 2020 update will show what your travel habits were like last year.
Yes, 2020 was the year of the coronavirus pandemic, which had seriously impacted travel and exercise in general, and Google acknowledges that too.
“COVID-19 changed the travel of the world in 2020 and the number of places people could visit,” reads the email by 9to5Google. “If you could travel this year, you can see some of the places you’ve been using this automated timeline email.”
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Even though our travel lifestyle has been hampered by the pandemic, it can still be interesting to see where we’ve gone. According to 9to5Google, the update includes a map of the cities and places you’ve traveled to, as well as a new section called ‘trends’. This section tells you what kind of places you’ve been, such as places to shop or eat. The Google Maps timeline also lets you know how many miles you’ve walked and ridden.
To use the feature, you apparently need to have location history turned on in your Google account settings. (I don’t know, that’s why I foolishly searched for this summary for a long time and got no results). However, if you have turned on other settings, such as Web & App Activity, Google can still save your location data when you use its sites, apps and services, even if you’ve paused Location History or deleted your location data, according to the company support Pages for the position.
On the support page for the feature, Google says you can edit your timeline or delete your location history and the associated time range at any time.
Fortunately, Google says your timeline isn’t available to everyone. It is private and only you can see it on mobile and desktop.
All in all, pretty cool, but also pretty scary. It is up to you to decide how you feel in a position like this. You may really enjoy seeing your data broken out that way. But if you don’t, you can always shut it down.
[9to5Google]