Google gives users insight into visited locations

Google gives Android users a more detailed view of locations they’ve been to if they’ve enabled location history. They can also see how long they have been in a pub or at work.

Google has been collecting the location data of users for some time if they have Google Now turned on, but it wasn’t exactly for sale. Users could view their location history, but only the movements on a map were shown; there was no overview of the locations where a user stayed. Google is now going to roll out such an overview.

If they have enabled location history, users will soon be able to see in an overview how long they stayed at a certain location. If users use Google Photos, photos taken are also shown in the overview. The new interface can be accessed from both the Google Maps app on Android and via a special website, although it does not appear to work for everyone yet.

Google may try with the new Timeline, as the company calls the overview, to give users better insight into what happens with their location data. Users often don’t know that Google collects their location data when they turn on Google Now. The location determination is used, among other things, to make tailor-made recommendations; for example, a user can be presented with a ‘card’ with file information at the end of his working day.