I don't like this change. What's going to be their proposal on multi device data sync, especially including web browsers? During my trip, I just let my phone log the path. Then I edit/browse it on my desktop since it's very inefficient to do so on my phone. With this change, this flow becomes almost infeasible or at least very tedious.
Location history data in Google Maps will soon be stored on user devices
31–40 of 193 posts
Re: Location history data in Google Maps will soon be stored on user devices
#32I sometimes query this to help me recall details from years ago, so I'm sad that the encroachment of very broad government surveillance and the rise to power of extremist politicians makes it unacceptably dangerous to continue to provide the service.
Have never found myself in and cannot imagine a circumstance where I'd need to know my precise location at a point in time years ago, or really even at any time other than the present.
I just did it the other day to recommend a hole in the wall restaurant in Italy I was last at in 2016. I couldn't even narrow it down to the correct street until I was able to find it on Google timeline.
Need? Probably not. It was certainly handy though knowing the week I was there and what the interior looked like.
Re: Location history data in Google Maps will soon be stored on user devices
#33I sometimes query this to help me recall details from years ago, so I'm sad that the encroachment of very broad government surveillance and the rise to power of extremist politicians makes it unacceptably dangerous to continue to provide the service.
I also like having this data — fun to occasionally time travel. The earliest record I have is from June 16, 2015, anyone have earlier?
I have Feb 14, 2012 and I went to Denny's for 3 hours. lol
Re: Location history data in Google Maps will soon be stored on user devices
#34I sometimes query this to help me recall details from years ago, so I'm sad that the encroachment of very broad government surveillance and the rise to power of extremist politicians makes it unacceptably dangerous to continue to provide the service.
Have never found myself in and cannot imagine a circumstance where I'd need to know my precise location at a point in time years ago, or really even at any time other than the present.
It works handily with Google photos where you can break out an itinerary of an old trip. As with most things, it's for nostalgia so if you're not wired that way, it's not really useful to you. I love reminiscing over old trips and having these details.
Re: Location history data in Google Maps will soon be stored on user devices
#35Reminds me of the wonderful idea, Data is the new toxic waste. https://www.kaspersky.com/blog/secure-futures-magazine/data-... There's too many awful or just self-dealing forces in the world which will legislate access to user's data. There's nothing your company can do to defend itself. The situation will only intensity and get worse, governments will only ever expand their legal access to the cloud's many data-keep…
Beautiful idea but I think it only applies to big, onshore players who can be sued or bullied.
There are tons of little data brokers buying locations from cell companies and unscrupulous ad networks driving all those apps on your phone collecting locations for no benefit to you; these brokers are behind Delaware shell corps or offshore.
Data is still gold to them.
Re: Location history data in Google Maps will soon be stored on user devices
#36I don't like this change. What's going to be their proposal on multi device data sync, especially including web browsers? During my trip, I just let my phone log the path. Then I edit/browse it on my desktop since it's very inefficient to do so on my phone. With this change, this flow becomes almost infeasible or at least very tedious.
I agree, but I think the headline is misleading. The data can still be backed up in the cloud. However, it will be end-to-end encrypted. It seems to me like the real issue is the inability of web apps to process end-to-end encrypted data. Are there any web standards efforts to solve this?
Re: Location history data in Google Maps will soon be stored on user devices
#37[flagged]
You can mitigate it by cutting it down to three months of history. I also enabled enough privacy settings that they report long outdated home and work locations on the map.
I DO NOT HAVE GOOGLE SIGNED IN to my android.
Your solution is moot. It should not be enabled for me but it is.
I understand the sentiment but why should we have to do it every time?
Re: Location history data in Google Maps will soon be stored on user devices
#38A scheme to reduce storage size.
Store location history remotely: this is just a scheme to invade privacy and hoover up user data.
Store location history locally: this is just a scheme to cut down on storage costs.
There's no winning here, is there? Personally, I'm a fan of Google never giving the option to store location history remotely and this is a step in the right direction.
Re: Location history data in Google Maps will soon be stored on user devices
#39I sometimes query this to help me recall details from years ago, so I'm sad that the encroachment of very broad government surveillance and the rise to power of extremist politicians makes it unacceptably dangerous to continue to provide the service.
Snap a photo of all the interesting places you find yourself.
Sometimes the thing you're looking for isn't something that you recognized as interesting in the moment.
Re: Location history data in Google Maps will soon be stored on user devices
#40A scheme to reduce storage size.
Somehow I doubt that the company running a site that gets 8 hours of video uploaded every second is concerned about the storage size of a bunch of (lat,lon,time) tuples.