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Honestly, I find this really useful and love being able to see where I've been, especially since I travel on almost a weekly basis. It's an invaluable tool for
by KukicAdnan 7y ago
Honestly, I find this really useful and love being able to see where I've been, especially since I travel on almost a weekly basis.
It's an invaluable tool for me and I trust Google to safeguard the information. They haven't failed me yet, and if they ever do, it should be easy enough to delete the info.
- danielecook 7y agoI like it as well - but google is almost certainly using this data to target you. I also wish I more control. Is there a way to export to GPX? It would be fun to create a heat map of your daily locations over the course of years.
- marzell 7y agoAFAIK Google account activity exports are limited to JSON and HTML. There may be a way to convert the JSON to GPX somehow.
- anoonmoose 7y agoBy "target", do you mean that they're using the information I voluntarily give them to provide me with more accurate and useful ads? Because, I mean, that's not a terrible trade-off.
- millstone 7y agoThere's no trade-off. Everything that's provided here could be done trivially on your device. You tell Google your daily movements and get back nothing in return.
- anoonmoose 7y agoPerhaps I could trivially have my device store this data. But I couldn't trivially have an always-on web interface to the information with search, timeframes, maps, etc. Let's not act like Google isn't doing anything besides data collection here.
- brianpgordon 7y agoYou actually see nonzero value in more targeted ads? Genuinely asking.
- anoonmoose 7y agoYes. I'd rather see ads for things I might actually buy than things I would never buy. If I could have an ad for a website I like instead of an ad for a website I would never go to that sounds like a good things to me.
- danielecook 7y agoI look at it more through a behavioral lens. If you know a lot about someone you can use that information to modify their behavior and decisions. I'd prefer to minimize behavioral triggers like and retain more influence over my own destiny.
- groby_b 7y agoProbably yes - GPSBabel is your friend for all kinds of location data conversions: https://www.gpsbabel.org/ https://www.gpsbabel.org/
- tdb7893 7y agoThis is something I've never gotten. I don't really mind targeted ads, they generally are more interesting to me than non targeted ads (which is a super low bar) and are worth more money, which is how all of these services are able to be "free" (and personally I would rather they are free with targeted ads in a lot of cases than having to pay, streaming services being the main exception. I know much of HN would disagree, though). Edit: this is off topic but I also always share my location with my wife which people have mixed reactions about, which surprises me because it's been great so far. Maybe I just view this stuff differently.
- ryandrake 7y agoI don’t click on ads so, if given the choice between targeted and non-targeted ads, I’d rather have non-targeted ones, because then at least I have a little more assurance that I’m not being tracked. The “relevance” of an ad is totally unimportant to me since I disregard them. What’s important is whether my PII is being traded around like baseball cards.
- spidermango 7y agoyes the government is tracking you, youre very important
- tdb7893 7y agoMy thing I would like first is some visibility into the data that people have about me and what other entities that data goes to (Google does this somewhat which had been cool for me but I haven't found it for other places). I don't mind being tracked in many cases but no visibility makes it so even if there were things I really care about I wouldn't know about it.
- nabla9 7y agoGoogle services may benefit all individuals using them but net negative whole the society as a whole. The "what it is for me" attitude of consumerism requires something else to balance it out.
- WilliamEdward 7y agoWhy are they a net negative? Genuine question.
- AlexandrB 7y agoCreating a mass surveillance apparatus seems harmless right up until the wrong kind of government takes power. Then it suddenly becomes a lethal tool of oppression.
- haecceity 7y agoAlso useful if you lost your phone.
- avocado4 7y agoI had a bike stolen once from the bike garage in my apartment, and I used my Google location history to prove to the garage owner that I indeed arrived there on the bike and never left afterwards.
- frereubu 7y agoNot wishing to be sarky, but surely "if they ever do" fail you it's too late.
- millstone 7y agoYour location history can be kept entirely on your device, or uploaded encrypted. There's no benefit to you for allowing Google to see it.