Where to find the map that shows Google is tracking your location

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Učlanjen(a)
11.10.2009
Poruka
66.907
Google Maps Has Been Tracking Your Every Move, And There’s A Website To Prove It



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Remember that scene in Minority Report, where Tom Cruise is on the run from the law, but is unable to avoid detection because everywhere he goes there are constant retina scans feeding his location back to a central database? That’s tomorrow. Today, Google is tracking wherever your smartphone goes, and putting a neat red dot on a map to mark the occasion.

You can find that map here. All you need to do is log in with the same account you use on your phone, and the record of everywhere you’ve been for the last day to month will erupt across your screen like chicken pox.

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We all know that no matter what ‘privacy’ settings you may try and implement, our information is all being collected and stored somewhere. That knowledge sits in the back of our minds, and is easy to drown out by shoving in some headphones and watching Adventure Time on repeat until everything stops being 1984. But it’s a sharp jolt back to reality when you see a two dimensional image marking your daily commute with occasional detours to the cinema or a friend’s house.

Looking at mine, I realized that a) I live my life in a very small radius, and b) there are places on my map that I don’t remember going. One of them I’ve apparently visited three times on different days. Once whilst “Biking” and twice while “Stationary”. All at times I wouldn’t usually be awake. I’m not sure what’s happening on Wood Street in North Melbourne, or why my phone apparently travels there without me, but I’m not going to rule out secret alien conspiracies.

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This never happened. UNLESS IT DID.

Apparently this record only happens if you have ‘location services’ switched on in your phone; if you do and you’re finding you have no data, then it means that either you don’t exist or you’ve beaten the system. If it’s the latter, please teach me your ways; I know for a fact that I switched my phone’s location detection off, but apparently it somehow got switched back on.

Oh well. Perhaps this month I’ll take some inspiration from the runner who used Nike+ draw dicks – except this time when the dots are joined, they’ll just form a huge, unblinking eye. With occasional side trips to Wood Street.

Get creeped out by logging in here.
Kod:
https://maps.google.com/locationhistory/b/0
 
ADMINISTRATOR
Učlanjen(a)
11.10.2009
Poruka
66.907
I had location history enabled for Google Maps and didn't know it. I found it interesting to see which spots Google logged for me over the past week or month, and I don't plan on disabling the service. It's nice to know, however, that I can delete portions of my location history or all of it, as well as disable the feature from tracking me in the future.

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Screenshot by Matt Elliott/CNET
To see if you have location history enabled, head to the Google Maps Location history page. Click thegear-icon button to access History settings. Here, you can choose to disable or enable the service.

Disabling location history, however, does not remove your past history. If you'd like to erase the locations Google has stored for the past 30 days, head back to the Location history page. The default time period shows location history for the current day, so you may not see any plots on the map.


Use the pull-down menu below the calendar on the left to show your history, up to 30 days. If you choose a time period in which Google has tracked your location, you'll see the points where you've been on the map. And below the calendar, you'll see options to delete your history from the time period you have chosen or to delete all history.

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Screenshot by Matt Elliott/CNET
You can also delete a specific location from your history. Click on one of the red points on the map, then in the pop-up window click Delete from history.

For iOS users who want to disable Google's location reporting from your iPhone, you will need to disable Location Reporting from the Google search app and any other Google apps on your iPhone, such as Google+.

For the Google search app, tap on your profile pic in the upper-left corner to open Settings. Next, tap on Privacy,choose Location and tap the slider next to Locationreporting to turn it off. You can also access your Location History from the Google search app and delete it.

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Screenshot by Matt Elliott/CNET
For the Google+ app, tap the hamburger button in the upper-left corner and then tap the gear icon to open Settings. Tap Location History and then choose Location Reporting. Tap Do not report to turn it off.

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Screenshot by Matt Elliott/CNET
You can also see which apps are using location services on your iPhone by going to Settings > Privacy > Location Services.

For Android users, the process is streamlined. Go to Settings > Location > Google Location Reporting. For Location Reporting, tap the slider to turn it off.

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