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Incredibly cool new Google Maps feature is also terrifyingly scary

Updated Dec 19th, 2018 9:02PM EST
Google Maps Your Timeline History
Image: Screenshot

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Google Maps has a brand-new trick you should know about, but the feature is also terrifyingly scary, as it proves how much information big data companies can hold about their customers.

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Starting today, Google Maps will let you explore Your Timeline, a new menu that shows you all the locations you went to that Google kept track of on your behalf. In addition to checking out what places you have visited on a certain day, you’ll also be able to see what pictures you have taken at that location with Google Photos.

The feature can be quite useful if you plan to keep track of the places you travel to and easily find photos related to those places that you’ve saved in Google Photos.

At the same time, the feature shows you how much user data Google can collect about an individual and how it can correlate that information with data obtained from other services, such as Google Photos.

However, you still have a say about what Your Timeline will show you. The company only shows that information to you and you get to select what locations are listed in it. Users can “easily delete a day or your full history at any time,” Google explains.

Your Timeline will be available on Android and desktop to users who have opted in to store Location History. The following GIF animation shows the feature in action on Android.

Chris Smith Senior Writer

Chris Smith has been covering consumer electronics ever since the iPhone revolutionized the industry in 2008. When he’s not writing about the most recent tech news for BGR, he brings his entertainment expertise to Marvel’s Cinematic Universe and other blockbuster franchises.

Outside of work, you’ll catch him streaming almost every new movie and TV show release as soon as it's available.