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Location history data in Google Maps will soon be stored on user devices

businessinsider.com

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Re: Location history data in Google Maps will soon be stored on user devices

#81

Post by pmontra »

I wonder if they'll implement a way to send the location history to the other devices of the same customer.

Furthermore I expect that there will a way to move that data to a new device, even a new phone replacing a dead one. It's one of the reasons to buy a new one, it happened to me 2 times out of 3 since I had modern smartphones.

The safest and most convenient way would be an encrypted backup to Google Drive (for Android, I don't know where for iOS,) with a password that only the user knows, different from the one of the Google account.

Re: Location history data in Google Maps will soon be stored on user devices

#82

Post by pmontra »

anigbrowl wrote: post #58
oh_sigh wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sometimes the thing you're looking for isn't something that you recognized as interesting in the moment.

You can turn it off on Android, I did so a few years ago. Although my phone has a perfectly good GPS receiver, Google really dislikes having it turned off and constantly pesters me to turn it back on when using their Map product.

I enable it from the drop down settings menu when I need navigation in Google Maps and in OSMAnd. Google Maps doesn't ask me to turn on Location Services if I'm only looking at a map or to street view.

Re: Location history data in Google Maps will soon be stored on user devices

#83

Post by pmontra »

cobertos wrote: post #75
asielen wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love location data. In fact when I travel, I bring a GPS logger to track all my locations, it helps me sync up my ok photos and retrace my steps. I have pretty precise maps of ally big trips in the last 10 years.

A GPS logger? What does that do over just your phone? I've been wanting an app to log my location outside of Google but was having trouble picking one to trust

I'm not sure it's what you need but OSMAnd is open source and can record your movements. I use it to record some of my bicycle rides, then I share it to my laptop for a backup, or to whatever share target the app can find.

The plus version is on F-Droid for free. It has unlimited map downloads.

Re: Location history data in Google Maps will soon be stored on user devices

#85

Post by josters »

cobertos wrote: post #75
asielen wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love location data. In fact when I travel, I bring a GPS logger to track all my locations, it helps me sync up my ok photos and retrace my steps. I have pretty precise maps of ally big trips in the last 10 years.

A GPS logger? What does that do over just your phone? I've been wanting an app to log my location outside of Google but was having trouble picking one to trust

My main concern for having a dedicated GPS logging device is the battery drain of the tracking apps on my phone. Used to have a Transystem 747ProS [1] which uses a Nokia BL-5C battery and would last a few days. However, that device was quite dated even then and its accuracy often lacking.

Now I am carrying a dedicated Android phone with me (a Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G) on which I have PhoneTrack [2] installed. The app starts tracking as soon as the phone is moving and saves all the data on device. I used to have an instance of Owntracks [3] running, but now I just run a simple Flask app which pipes the GPS points to a PostGIS database on my local network when I am home. To visualize the tracks, I import them into QGIS. As the phone is solely used for tracking and only when I take it with me, the battery lasts about three days.

[1] http://www.transystem.com.tw/www/product.php?b=G&m=pe&cid=4&... [2] https://f-droid.org/en/packages/net.eneiluj.nextcloud.phonet... [3] https://owntracks.org

Re: Location history data in Google Maps will soon be stored on user devices

#86

Post by walthamstow »

This product is by far the biggest, most useful, hole in my privacy stance.

I'd never have an internet-connected camera in my home for example but I get genuine use and joy out of Google keeping 10 years' record of everywhere I've been, including the night I first hooked up with my wife and we fell into a taxi at 1am. Neither of us can properly remember it, but Google does.

Re: Location history data in Google Maps will soon be stored on user devices

#87

Post by kelnos »

SoftTalker wrote: post #18
arebop wrote: post #5

I 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.

Maybe consider that others might have different experiences and needs than you do?

Re: Location history data in Google Maps will soon be stored on user devices

#88

Post by kelnos »

pmontra wrote: post #83
cobertos wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A GPS logger? What does that do over just your phone? I've been wanting an app to log my location outside of Google but was having trouble picking one to trust

I'm not sure it's what you need but OSMAnd is open source and can record your movements. I use it to record some of my bicycle rides, then I share it to my laptop for a backup, or to whatever share target the app can find. The plus version is on F-Droid for free. It has unlimited map downloads.

I imagine having that record your movements 24/7 would drain the battery like crazy, though.

If you look at Google Timeline, sometimes the track it records is not particularly accurate, likely because it's only getting updates for significant changes in your location.

I also use OwnTracks to keep track of myself, and there I can see the individual points it gets from the OS notifying it of location changes, and... it's honestly not that great sometimes.

Re: Location history data in Google Maps will soon be stored on user devices

#89

Post by andylynch »

londons_explore wrote: post #67
anigbrowl wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can turn it off on Android, I did so a few years ago. Although my phone has a perfectly good GPS receiver, Google really dislikes having it turned off and constantly pesters me to turn it back on when using their Map product.

I can kinda see why GPS working would be a core feature of a map product on a mobile device...

Location access on device absolutely. The problem here is the Google has been collecting extremely detailed location data, going back years, for nearly all of its users.

And while it’s mildly interesting or useful to some, it’s dangerous to others, especially given it’s stored in a central location out of their control, and running all the time, not just when you’re using Maps.

Re: Location history data in Google Maps will soon be stored on user devices

#90

Post by pmontra »

kelnos wrote: post #88
pmontra wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure it's what you need but OSMAnd is open source and can record your movements. I use it to record some of my bicycle rides, then I share it to my laptop for a backup, or to whatever share target the app can find. The plus version is on F-Droid for free. It has unlimited map downloads.

I imagine having that record your movements 24/7 would drain the battery like crazy, though. If you look at Google Timeline, sometimes the track it records is not particularly accurate, likely because it's only getting updates for significant changes in your location. I also use OwnTracks to keep track of myself, and there I can see the individual points it gets from the OS notifying it of location changes, and... it…

I'm recording one position every 5 seconds when I want to get a GPX track of my ride. If I only wanted a record of my general position I guess I could take 1 position every 5 minutes. However I keep my GPS turned off and I never gave my location history to Google in all these years so I really don't know what the impact would be on battery.

The positions from OSMAnd seem pretty spot on.

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