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Google Maps Timeline: Revisit places you have been to

Google is rolling out a new Google Maps features currently that it calls "Your Timeline". The new feature lets you revisit where you have been and how you got there using the official Android application or the desktop version of Google Maps.

You can find out if it is available for your account already by visiting the Your Timeline page on Google Maps, or opening the Google Maps menu on Android as it is listed right underneath Your places there.

It allows users of Google Maps to remember places they have been to in the past according to Google.

Note: The feature works only if you have not turned off the location history feature. If you did, you find an option to enable it again on the Timeline page or on your Android device.

google maps timeline

The web version of Timeline lists places you have been to as red dots on the map. You can click on any of those for information of what they are, and double-click on them to get detailed route information displayed on Google Maps.

Route information include when and where you started your journey, where you went to and how long you spend time there, and when you ended the journey.

timeline information

The Timeline page lists home and work addresses, and popular places that you visited more often than others. Google Maps divides places into places you have been and unconfirmed places. It can happen that places are listed as visited even though you have not been to them.

You may remove places in the detail view when that happens so that they are no longer shown.

remove stop timeline

If you have enabled location on your mobile device you may get detailed information about what you did and where you went in the past.

Even if you have turned off Location History on Google, information about previous activity may still be provided as turning the feature off does not delete data.

Deleting all data

delete location history

Even if you don't plan on using Google Maps Timeline, you may want to check it out at least once to make sure Google has not stored any location-based data of your activities.

If you notice that data is stored by the company, you may want to disable it which you can do right on the Timeline website.

  1. Open the Timeline website in your web browser of choice.
  2. Locate the settings icon next to "Map Satellite" on the map interface and click on it.
  3. Select "delete all location history" from the context menu.

Google notes that deleting the location history will remove it from the Google account so that neither you nor Google can access it.

This article was first seen on ComTek's "TekBits" Technology News

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