Live from London? - and using Google Maps Timeline and the Past
Published: Sun, 10/22/23
Live from London?
We won't do our show live today, but we did say "Hello from London" earlier today. Check it out on our YouTube channel. Make sure you are subscribed and click the bell to get notifications if we go live again this
week.
We're in London for 2 weeks total. The first week was all about the Google Product Expert Event - see a little narrated slideshow here.
Have you ever taken a look at Google Maps Timeline? If you have opted in to Google's Location history, your timeline
shows everywhere you've been. For example, yesterday we took a train to somewhere south of London to meet up with friends. I'm not really sure where it was, so I love being able to go to Google Maps, tap my little face in the upper right and choose "Your Timeline." That will show me where I've been today, but all I need to do is tap the dropdown arrow next to Today and then tap the day on the calendar for yesterday. I will see this:
If you want to know more about what you can do with Google Maps Timeline, see Episode 221 of our Button show. But, there's one thing I didn't know back then and I learned this week at my Google event: You don't have to pick a date to see everywhere you've been in an area. If you click the 2-level square icon and set it to Show past visits - you will now see a little dot at every place that has been recorded
by Google Maps.
So, for example, we were in London many years ago and we visited a pub with friends. I don't remember what pub that was, but, thanks to this past visits feature, I can find a little dot, right in the heart of London and see that we visited the Red Lion. Yes! That was it. And, once I tap on it, I can confirm it was the place because it shows the photos I took there that day. It also shows everywhere else we went that day. What a
great thing for fading memories!
