Google has begun rolling out a new feature to Google Maps called Your Timeline.
The new addition has started appearing in the side menu of the main Google Maps Android app, just below Your Places. It’s also rolling out to the desktop version of Google Maps.
Your Timeline promises to provide a useful, easy-on-the-eye glance at where you’ve been and what you’ve been doing. It should be handy as a memory aid, not to mention for backtracking when you lose something on a big night out.
The new feature will offer a visualisation, complete with map routes, of the places you’ve visited on a given day, months, or year. If you use Google Photos – and what tech-savvy Android user doesn’t? – then Your Places will even fold in the pictures you’ve been taking in each location.
Read More: Chromecast tips and tricks
That will all either sound amazing or deeply creepy, but remember – Google can only exhibit such stalkerish behaviour if you let it. The feature will only appear if you’ve opted-in to store your location history with Google.
“Your Timeline is private and visible only to you; and you control the locations you choose to keep,” says Google. “This means you can easily delete a day or your full history at any time.”
It’s possible to edit any location that appears on Your Timeline, whether that be removing it altogether or adding a private name. It will then appear like that in Google Maps whenever you’re logged in to your Google account.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
