I’m A Big Fan Of Google Maps Timeline

Google Maps Timeline is an optional feature that you can turn off at will but I have opted in because I ride to so many places on my motorcycle that it’s a great way to keep track of my movements. Some may wave their arms in the air, decrying the lack of privacy and citing Timeline as a spy in the sky, but I disagree. It’s a useful tool for many different reasons and very often I ask myself, “Did I really go to all those places?”

Timeline – Where Have I Been?

I’m not going to write a how-to for Timeline because it’s very intuitive and can be used on both a desktop and mobile phone. One useful feature is to select All Time instead of a particular year when you visit your own timeline page.

The map then changes to reflect all those places you’ve been to since you opted into the system.

On the map, you can then zoom in for greater detail.

It seems that I only opted into Timeline in December 2017 when the system had already been running since the middle of 2015, so I missed out on all those long motorcycle trips I did in 2016. For me, it’s a very handy logbook and tells me that I’ve visited 885 places in the last five years, albeit with many of them being visits of less than five minutes due to the nature of my work. I also receive monthly email with a summary of my travels, highlighting different modes of transport.

I’m pretty sure I walked more than 113 kilometres, but then I don’t always carry my phone with me when we go for a walk because it’s a pleasure to be disconnected from the world from time to time.

Do you use Timeline and what do you like about it?

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