Like a lot of people I've had Google Timeline enabled for years. I knew the data was there but Google's interface is very primitive so I never really looked at it - until I started wondering what it actually said about my life.
The problem is every app that promises to "analyze your location data" wants you to upload it to their servers. That felt like trading one privacy problem for another.
So I started looking at the raw export instead. Google lets you download your entire Timeline as a JSON file directly from Google Maps - most people don't know this.
Unfortunately, unless you're a coder, the file is unreadable. Tens of thousands of lines of raw JSON. So I built something to make sense of it - processed entirely on-device, nothing uploaded.
What I found surprised me:
- I spend almost 3 hours a day in my car. I would have guessed half that.
- I average 32 trips per week — nearly 5 a day.
- Thursday is my most active day. Would have bet on Saturday.
- My average trip is only 5 miles. Almost everything I do is close to home.
If anyone else has been curious about their own Timeline data, you can export it straight from Google Maps under your Timeline settings (Android) or Location settings (iOS).