Re: Google timeline/location services

Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> wrote:

Stan Brown wrote:
 

Are you sure the email was actually from Google?

 
Yes ...
 
<https://support.google.com/maps/community-guide/276228911/changes-underway-for-google-maps-timeline?hl=en>

Ah, thanks for that.  As I recall, I saw something about this.  Instead
of Google keeping the timeline data on their servers, and having their
app on your phone sync to it, the location history will get stored only
on your phone.

"with timeline, your visits and routes are automatically saved to a map
on each of your devices."

"timeline is changing and will now be created on your device. as part of
this: to avoid losing your visits and routes, you’ll need to choose
settings for your data by 15 september 2024."

Unless you download the json files for your existing location history.
The Takeout web site is only about downloading your history.  You choose
which categories of data to download.  Up to you to figure out how to
use it after download.  Looks like you lose your existing location
history that is sync'ed up to the server, and why they offer a means to
retrieve it before it's gone.

The instructions say to update the Google Maps app.  According to the
app page, it is currently at 11.149.0101 (and requires Android 8.0, and
up, so I just squeak by with my old Android 8.0.0 phone).  That is the
version of the Maps app currently on my phone.  I just ran the Play
Store a couple days ago to update all candidate apps (it used to update
automatically, but I've had to check and manual start the updates myself
for many months now).

The above article says to follow the instructions in their e-mail, but I
never got it.  Looks like this is a rollout, so I might get it later.
Whatever those instructions say, I'm supposed to do something in the
settings of their Maps app.  With the version that I have, I went into
its settings, and there is a Timeline category.  When I went there,
instead of showing me entries, I got a screen showing "Rediscover,
Remember, and Refect)", and a button saying "Continue".  Never saw that
before, so looks like the updated Maps app is getting ready to locally
store my location history.  Then I got the normal screen showing entries
by date, and locations within a selected date.

Now it looks like Maps will locally save location history instead of
synchronizing it to their server.  However, I have to wonder how other
phones connecting to the same Google account will get location history
from other phones connecting to that same Google account.  Almost seems
location history will be saved only on a single phone.  If you have
multiple phones, their location histories will not be shared.

I've never much used the timeline feature.  I've looked at it, and it
can be helpful, but it draws straight lines between stop points along a
route instead of showing the progress along a route.  Pretty much it
looks usable to see where you stopped, not how you got there.  I've been
using an app from Talented Apps called ParKing (but its author abandoned
it back in 2021).  Unlike Google Maps that tries to determine where you
stopped based on changes in speed measured by GPS, ParKing does similar
but can be configured to mark stop spots by Bluetooth disconnect.  I
have an old car with no integral Bluetooth, but I use an FM/Blueooth
adapter in a cigarette lighter port.  The phone connects to the adapter
using Bluetooth while the adapter connects via FM to my car radio.  This
lets me hear driving instructions from Google Maps.  When I turn off my
car, the cigarette light loses power, so the adapter loses power, so the
Bluetooth connection is broken between adapter to my phone.  This
triggers the ParKing app to register a stop point.  The app has other
detection methods, but the Bluetooth break on a stop and Bluetooth
connect on a start is the most reliable.  The app also keeps a history
of my routes in a day.  So, while Google Maps may now have a local-only
location history, I've rarely looked at it.  It doesn't really help me
to find where is my car in the parking lot, especially at those huge
parking lots at theme parks.  The ParKing apps works for me finding my
car; however, when in a huge parking lot, I find taking pics of the
signs, like which section I'm in, or which level of a ramp, to be
helpful to also find my car.

Google's instructions seem mostly geared to you saving your old location
history before it's gone from their server.  Thereafter, going into the
Timeline feature of their Maps app has it saving it locally on just that
one phone.  I've never needed to sync my travels across phones (I only
have one phone for several years now), so no loss to me, but I'm sure
folks with 2, or more, phones might've liked having their travels
available on all their phones.