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Despite preferring Apple's ecosystem over all others, I've built up quite a robust collection of "Favorites" and "Want to Go" and 'Starred" places in Google Map

Despite preferring Apple's ecosystem over all others, I've built up quite a robust collection of "Favorites" and "Want to Go" and 'Starred" places in Google Maps, which makes the switching costs to move to Apple Maps high. Is there a way to export that data from Google Maps? Will Apple offer an import feature?

mittermayr 2y ago
Only through Google Takeout. I am trying to build a tool that allows displaying and sharing them outside of Google Accounts or Maps, but the only reliable way to get them out is unfortunately still Takeout. Some browser extensions offered a loop/extraction but they mostly don’t work anymore I think.
- bbqbbqbbq 2y ago
  [dead]
- Ajedi32 2y ago
  Google Takeout is excellent; basically GDPR data downloads 5 years before GDPR was even a thing. Before moving anything to Apple Maps I'd want to be sure they offer a similar feature so I'm not locked in.
  - e12e 2y ago
    Just be aware google takeout contains everything except files uploaded to Google Drive.
    - account42 2y ago
      That's reasonable as you can already download those files and they would likely bloat the takeout into being a miserable experience.
      - e12e 2y ago
        The confusing part is that you can select to include data for Google Drive with the text: > Files that you own that have been stored in your My drive and computers. More info Only two levels into the help text there's mention of what is included - but no explicit mention that uploaded/shared files are excluded. The entire (empty) folder structure is there, so it's easy to think the files are too.
- lippihom 2y ago
  The Takeout export from Maps is quite messy when I've done it in the past.
diceduckmonk 2y ago
I accumulated 8,000+ visited locations on Google Maps, but they've been increasingly abandoning "power users". You might want to reconsider before "investing" or being emotionally attached to Google Maps's saved lists: [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/GoogleMaps/comments/1cfqk52/did_i_just_learn_the_limit_to_saved_places_the/ https://www.reddit.com/r/GoogleMaps/comments/1cfqk52/did_i_j... [2] https://techissuestoday.com/google-maps-limits-entries-into-want-to-go-and-other-saved-lists/ https://techissuestoday.com/google-maps-limits-entries-into-...
- CamelCaseName 2y ago
  From that reddit thread: Sharing some perspective on this (I was involved in the fix). Basically what started happening at some point was that Maps had built in a “timeout” for the fetch of Saved lists. When the lists weren’t able to be downloaded/fetched in under X seconds, the system stopped trying, assuming that lists in general would always load in under X seconds. For users with huge lists, and for some users with very slow connections, it would timeout and not show anything. The way to notice it was typically when sharing the list, because the receiving user would fall into that timeout trap. The owner of the list usually didn’t notice immediately because the places were cached on their devices. It’s still being worked on, and being rolled out slowly.. Some changes will come though, not sure how it’ll be announced.
  - echelon 2y ago
    Was the fix to use a paginated API? Also, as an aside, do you have any political sway over this decision? https://www.theguardian.com/technology/article/2024/jun/06/google-to-start-permanently-deleting-users-location-history https://www.theguardian.com/technology/article/2024/jun/06/g... Location history is extremely valuable to remember trips and retrace steps. I don't want this living locally on a device where it can go missing.
    - heyoni 2y ago
      That change is hilarious. So many potentially goofy reasons for it happening but my best take is google deciding not to host any data it can’t mine or use. The privacy policy on location history was quite good and effectively granted users privacy.
lippihom 2y ago
Collectively there are 100s of strings open across Reddit, Stack Overflow, etc asking for a clean way to export saved places on Google Maps, but other than Takeout (which for the average user is quite complex), there isn't really anything that works well. There's ways to hack together a scraper that can go through and grab everything, but it's still quite messy. I think Google is making it hard on purpose in order to use this as their "moat".
namuorg 2y ago
You can use Browserflow (Chrome extension for browser automation) to extract saved lists from Google Maps: https://browserflow.app/shared/MWz0bTt7zBkyRMTs https://browserflow.app/shared/MWz0bTt7zBkyRMTs Screen recording: https://www.loom.com/share/5ad91e0347294c7a9b4f0e0b3b2b8544?sid=542198ef-ded8-4c2b-bfa7-7716c7f7b731 https://www.loom.com/share/5ad91e0347294c7a9b4f0e0b3b2b8544?... I made Browserflow so feel free to ask any questions / let me know if you run into any issues.
leokennis 2y ago
If you use your mapping app to curate locations, just don’t bother with Apple Maps. It’s pretty great for navigation and turn by turn and offline. But its review ecosystem is Yelp and TripArvisor (so terrible) instead of GM’s great user reviews, you cannot collaborate on collections of locations, managing saved locations works terrible.
mrehler 2y ago
I use Apple Maps for all of my transit needs, but I still keep Google for business data and lists like this. I don't find the Apple Maps list set-up to be what I want from this kind of feature. I do find it reasonable to keep two maps apps on my home screen, though.

mittermayr 2y ago

Only through Google Takeout. I am trying to build a tool that allows displaying and sharing them outside of Google Accounts or Maps, but the only reliable way to get them out is unfortunately still Takeout. Some browser extensions offered a loop/extraction but they mostly don’t work anymore I think.

bbqbbqbbq 2y ago
[dead]
Ajedi32 2y ago
Google Takeout is excellent; basically GDPR data downloads 5 years before GDPR was even a thing. Before moving anything to Apple Maps I'd want to be sure they offer a similar feature so I'm not locked in.
- e12e 2y ago
  Just be aware google takeout contains everything except files uploaded to Google Drive.
  - account42 2y ago
    That's reasonable as you can already download those files and they would likely bloat the takeout into being a miserable experience.
    - e12e 2y ago
      The confusing part is that you can select to include data for Google Drive with the text: > Files that you own that have been stored in your My drive and computers. More info Only two levels into the help text there's mention of what is included - but no explicit mention that uploaded/shared files are excluded. The entire (empty) folder structure is there, so it's easy to think the files are too.
lippihom 2y ago
The Takeout export from Maps is quite messy when I've done it in the past.

diceduckmonk 2y ago

I accumulated 8,000+ visited locations on Google Maps, but they've been increasingly abandoning "power users". You might want to reconsider before "investing" or being emotionally attached to Google Maps's saved lists: [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/GoogleMaps/comments/1cfqk52/did_i_just_learn_the_limit_to_saved_places_the/ https://www.reddit.com/r/GoogleMaps/comments/1cfqk52/did_i_j... [2] https://techissuestoday.com/google-maps-limits-entries-into-want-to-go-and-other-saved-lists/ https://techissuestoday.com/google-maps-limits-entries-into-...

CamelCaseName 2y ago
From that reddit thread: Sharing some perspective on this (I was involved in the fix). Basically what started happening at some point was that Maps had built in a “timeout” for the fetch of Saved lists. When the lists weren’t able to be downloaded/fetched in under X seconds, the system stopped trying, assuming that lists in general would always load in under X seconds. For users with huge lists, and for some users with very slow connections, it would timeout and not show anything. The way to notice it was typically when sharing the list, because the receiving user would fall into that timeout trap. The owner of the list usually didn’t notice immediately because the places were cached on their devices. It’s still being worked on, and being rolled out slowly.. Some changes will come though, not sure how it’ll be announced.
- echelon 2y ago
  Was the fix to use a paginated API? Also, as an aside, do you have any political sway over this decision? https://www.theguardian.com/technology/article/2024/jun/06/google-to-start-permanently-deleting-users-location-history https://www.theguardian.com/technology/article/2024/jun/06/g... Location history is extremely valuable to remember trips and retrace steps. I don't want this living locally on a device where it can go missing.
  - heyoni 2y ago
    That change is hilarious. So many potentially goofy reasons for it happening but my best take is google deciding not to host any data it can’t mine or use. The privacy policy on location history was quite good and effectively granted users privacy.

lippihom 2y ago

Collectively there are 100s of strings open across Reddit, Stack Overflow, etc asking for a clean way to export saved places on Google Maps, but other than Takeout (which for the average user is quite complex), there isn't really anything that works well. There's ways to hack together a scraper that can go through and grab everything, but it's still quite messy. I think Google is making it hard on purpose in order to use this as their "moat".

namuorg 2y ago

You can use Browserflow (Chrome extension for browser automation) to extract saved lists from Google Maps: https://browserflow.app/shared/MWz0bTt7zBkyRMTs https://browserflow.app/shared/MWz0bTt7zBkyRMTs Screen recording: https://www.loom.com/share/5ad91e0347294c7a9b4f0e0b3b2b8544?sid=542198ef-ded8-4c2b-bfa7-7716c7f7b731 https://www.loom.com/share/5ad91e0347294c7a9b4f0e0b3b2b8544?... I made Browserflow so feel free to ask any questions / let me know if you run into any issues.

leokennis 2y ago

If you use your mapping app to curate locations, just don’t bother with Apple Maps. It’s pretty great for navigation and turn by turn and offline. But its review ecosystem is Yelp and TripArvisor (so terrible) instead of GM’s great user reviews, you cannot collaborate on collections of locations, managing saved locations works terrible.

mrehler 2y ago

I use Apple Maps for all of my transit needs, but I still keep Google for business data and lists like this. I don't find the Apple Maps list set-up to be what I want from this kind of feature. I do find it reasonable to keep two maps apps on my home screen, though.