A while ago, Google changed Maps to no longer store the Timeline data on Google’s servers but only on an Android phone. It also supposedly encrypts that data. Optionally you can enable a “cloud backup” which stores an encrypted backup of that data on Google’s server so you can move your Timeline from one Android phone to another and don’t lose your history.
I’m not a huge fan of this change because it means that I can access my Timeline on my Android phone only and no longer in the web browser, but I guess Google got tired of those requests by various police and spy organizations for user’s Timeline data, so they made it technically impossible.
But I would like to at least see that data on my computer, so what can be done? Searching the Web for a solution I found lots of mentions of the Google Takeout service which creates an archive of the various types of user data that Google stores. Unfortunately the Timeline is no longer part of this data, because it is no longer stored on Google’s servers (the “cloud backup” is useless because it is encrypted and you don’t have the key). It took me a while to find out that you still can export the data, but you have to do that on your phone. Mileagewise provides detailed instructions for this, which I will paraphrase here, just to prevent link rot:
- In your phone’s settings menu, navigate to “Location” -> “Location Settings” -> “Timeline”
- There you will find an entry “Export Timeline data”
- Click on that entry, confirm that you rally want to do that, authenticate using whatever method you have configured for Android (Lock pattern, PIN or password)
- Select a directory and file name for storing the data
The process may take a few seconds but eventually you will end up with a large .json file which contains all the data. You can then e.g. send this data to yourself via email to use it on a PC.
Since that JSON format cannot easily be used elsewhere people have created several converters for this format to GPX. (And I just found that both also have instructions on how to export the data. I apparently didn’t use the right query when I searched for it.) Both process the data locally, so it isn’t uploaded to any “cloud” server. There is also Timeline Viewer Map, but you may or may not like to use this viewer because it is not clear whether it uploads the data or processes it locally.
I’m thinking about adding support for the format to my employer’s mapping program which is written in Delphi, but since that would take a lot of time, maybe I’ll just go with one of the GPX converters instead.