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Sadly, this also means the end of the Google Maps Timeline feature on the website. All location data will only be stored on-device. I really valued the websit

Sadly, this also means the end of the Google Maps Timeline feature on the website. All location data will only be stored on-device. I really valued the website feature, I would regularly ask Google what restaurant I ate at in Chicago 5 years ago.

walrus01 2y ago
Presumably if the location history data is stored on-device in a format accessible to the user, it would not be ridiculously complicated for an existing all-local-data app (such as OSMAnd, which implements an openstreetmap client with locally stored vector map data on Android) to take that same data and overlay it on a map using entirely local resources. OSMAnd and its competitors are quite useful if you plan to go out to places with really poor or nonexistent cellular coverage, you can easily download the vector data for entire US states or Canadian provinces in advance of your trip.
- ethbr1 2y ago
  It certainly seems like in the future there's going to be a market for user-controlled personal-data stores (using a standard format for certain types of data) + library glue to load them into apps on-demand, as that'll be the only way to accomplish features like this in a privacy-preserving way. Or, you know, the platform companies end up being the only ones who can access the on-device stores from local apps.
- TeMPOraL 2y ago
  > Presumably if the location history data is stored on-device in a format accessible to the user Except it won't be, because this is Google we're talking about. They'll find some bogus security or privacy reason to keep the data encrypted and inaccessible to end users except through their blessed app, and it will only be transferable through a "backup" feature that's explicitly designed to allow for provisioning new devices without, at any point, giving you actual access to your own data you "backed up". Like it's with all the other stuff Google manages on Android now.

walrus01 2y ago

Presumably if the location history data is stored on-device in a format accessible to the user, it would not be ridiculously complicated for an existing all-local-data app (such as OSMAnd, which implements an openstreetmap client with locally stored vector map data on Android) to take that same data and overlay it on a map using entirely local resources. OSMAnd and its competitors are quite useful if you plan to go out to places with really poor or nonexistent cellular coverage, you can easily download the vector data for entire US states or Canadian provinces in advance of your trip.

ethbr1 2y ago
It certainly seems like in the future there's going to be a market for user-controlled personal-data stores (using a standard format for certain types of data) + library glue to load them into apps on-demand, as that'll be the only way to accomplish features like this in a privacy-preserving way. Or, you know, the platform companies end up being the only ones who can access the on-device stores from local apps.
TeMPOraL 2y ago
> Presumably if the location history data is stored on-device in a format accessible to the user Except it won't be, because this is Google we're talking about. They'll find some bogus security or privacy reason to keep the data encrypted and inaccessible to end users except through their blessed app, and it will only be transferable through a "backup" feature that's explicitly designed to allow for provisioning new devices without, at any point, giving you actual access to your own data you "backed up". Like it's with all the other stuff Google manages on Android now.