New additions include the ability to easily control what shows up in your Timeline and what doesn’t, and edit specific items to tweak the accuracy of the information if the auto-tagged locations and activities weren’t quite right.
Timeline has been live for Android users, and on the desktop, for a little while now, but iOS users get the chance to join in today, and Google’s iterating on the feature a bit to welcome the iPhone faithful. Google frames it as a great way to look back and find that restaurant you thought was terrific during your most recent vacation, or to find out what day you actually dropped off your dry cleaning (versus when you’re pretty sure you did).
What is Timeline? It’s basically a browser history but for IRL navigation. Now, iOS users can find out what their Android counterparts have been enjoying with Timeline in Maps since 2015. While the more privacy-minded may not like that, others may appreciate the ability to share a specific day or trip on their blog or website.Google hasn’t had a terrific record with building social networks, but its Timeline feature for Google Maps is actually surprisingly similar to a primary facet of most social products, and it’s a very interesting addition to an app that has largely been focused solely on getting you from point A to point B. Google didn’t mention in its post whether the feature will come with sharing or embed options. That said, there’s no denying that Google Now is an awfully useful service and Your Timeline may also reveal itself to be more handy than you realized-if only to retrace your steps on that day you lost your backpack. While all these features sound nice and privacy-protecting, just remember that any of your location data stored on Google’s servers is also available to law enforcement or other interested government parties that file the right paperwork. Locations you frequent can also be named on the map, such as a relative’s house or your favorite coffee hangout.
Any Google Now user on mobile devices has this feature enabled unless they've manually disabled it.įor more control, the company says you can also delete a specific day, location, or even your full history whenever you want. You will also only see Your Timeline if you’ve enabled location history storing with Google. Hoping to fend off any privacy concerns, Google says Your Timeline is private and visible only to you, and only when you’re signed-in to your Google account. Not everyone is going to be pleased with Your Timeline, however, and Google is taking pains to claim that you are in control of your data. And for those who love the idea of maintaining fine-grain journals of their day, this feature will be a perfect fit for taking trips down memory lane. It’s commendable that Google is making the data it collects about you easily available to you. Why this matters: This is yet another example of what Google can do with your data resulting from the privacy policy changes the company enacted in 2012. If, for example, you visited Coney Island on July 2, as you peruse your voyage around the area that day you’ll see photos next to the entries for the places you took them-assuming you uploaded the images to Google drive, of course.
Mashing up your data even further, Google Photos users will also see any photos they took on a given day at a given location inside the Your Timeline feature. The difference now is that it will be available in a more user-friendly manner right from the Google Maps menu on the desktop or Android. You can already view your location history by diving into the My Account dashboard for your Google account. Google calls Your Timeline “a useful way to remember and view the places you’ve been on a given day, month or year.” The feature allows you to view your entire location history on Google Maps based on data pulled from your devices when signed-in to your Google account. Google is rolling out a new “Your Timeline” feature for Maps over the coming weeks that is certain to thrill some folks-and horrify others.