HACKED: Google Maps Has Been Tracking Your Every Move, And There’s A Website To Prove It ,...How to delete and disable your Google location history?

17 AUG 2014

Google Maps Has Been Tracking Your Every Move, And There’s A Website To Prove It

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. OR https://maps.google.com/locationhistory/b/0/ 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.
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 realised 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.

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.

(iStockphoto)

You likely know that when you search for directions using Google Maps, the service registers where you are to help get you from Point A to Point B. But did you know that the app regularly tracks and archives your location in an entirely separate database?   

Yes, Apple isn’t the only one quietly filing away your location data. Google has its own comprehensive treasure trove of your information, which tracks and time-stamps your approximate location, ranging back months and months. 

To see your history, you first need to log in to Google. Keep in mind that, if you’ve never logged in to the Maps tool while using it before, this will likely not apply. 

Once you’re logged in, visit this link. OR https://maps.google.com/locationhistory/b/0/ You’ll be able to see pretty much everywhere you’ve been within the past year, day by day. It varies from person to person. I, for instance, have a history that dates back to May 15, 2013. A reader of mine, who tipped me off to this page, says his account shows 14 months’ worth of locations.

My approximate locations from May 15, 2013.

Where I went that entire month.

To the left of the map, below a calendar tool, is an option called Show timestamps.

Click the arrow, and it will show a range of times. Clicking on a particular time will bring it up on the map, pinpointing where you were during that time period. 

So you can see that at 9:25 p.m., I was somewhere around the West Village. Let’s all take a moment to recognize how painfully chic I am. 

I have nothing to hide here, but sometimes people lie about where they are. Whether or not it’s right, it’s entirely human. This Google Maps data throws a wrench in that scheme. 

That being said, this stuff is not being publicly displayed anywhere. The dashboard, as Google puts it, is meant to highlight “useful or interesting information from your existing location history.” I’ve reached out for comment about how the company might otherwise use this information.

If you want to clear parts of this history, you can select specific time periods on the calendar to the left of the map and click Delete history from this day. Or, if you want a fresh start, click Delete all history.

To disable this feature completely, go to the box labeled with a tool icon in the upper-right corner of the page. 

Select History settings.

Select Disable, and then click Save.

And now you’ve wiped yet another tech company’s database of information you never really knew it had. Good job. Go ahead and take the rest of the day off. There’s likely more to come.

How to delete and disable your Google location history

Google can track your location and show you on Google Maps and Google Earth where you have been recently, which you may find useful, interesting, or invasive. Here's how to see if you have location history turned on and how to disable it.

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.

Screenshot by Matt Elliott/CNET

To see if you have location history enabled, head to the Google Maps Location history page. Click the gear-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.

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 from using location services, follow this path: Settings > Privacy > Location Services, and turn the slider switch off for Google Maps. For Android users looking to prevent Google from using location service on their mobile device, this Google Support page has instructions.