Did you know that Google Maps tracks all your movements? Just access the history of Google Maps to discover all the places you’ve visited.

You want to know where you were two years ago but your memory doesn’t help you? No problem: just ask Google to answer your questions. No, you don’t have to search directly on the search engine par excellence, but you will have to sift through the information that Big G stores in your personal profile.

As is well known, in fact, the search engine collects all kinds of data on users to create personal profiles that can be exploited at a commercial and advertising level. Among these there are also the data of our movements, useful to Google to understand if we like more pizzerias or sushi restaurants or if we usually move to a city rather than another. These data are obviously available from the Google Maps history, from which you can check what information has been collected on our account.

How to see Google Maps history

To access the places you visit on Google Maps you need to enter your Google Account, click Manage your data and customization in the “Customize Google” box; then in the Task Management box click on the Location History line and Manage History. Alternatively, you can click directly on this link and access the same section.

In the screen that will appear you will see a portion of the Google Maps map that includes the vast majority (or totality) of the movements that the giant of Mountain View has recorded. From here you can access the history of Google Maps, simply by browsing through the various red dots on the map or by entering a specific date in the calendar at the top left. If an itinerary corresponds to the day chosen, it will be shown in the central part of the screen, with all the stops and times recorded by your Android smartphone.

The data for the Google Maps history, in fact, are retrieved thanks to the GPS, GLONASS and Wi-Fi sensors of the smartphone, while on some occasions the algorithms of the house of Mountain View could locate you thanks to the connection of the PC (if you use Chrome and you have synchronized it with your Google Account) and the IP address used to connect.

How to stop Google tracking

As you can imagine, tracking your location allows Google to know (almost) at any time where you are and to reconstruct what you are doing (if you stay for half an hour, an hour or a couple of hours in a restaurant it is likely that you are there for an aperitif or dinner) and with whom you are (in this case Google will have to cross data with those of other people, but it does not take long for its algorithms). In short, a nice intrusion into your life and your privacy.

If you want, however, Google offers you the possibility to stop tracking and protect your privacy. From the Activity Management tab (see in the previous paragraph how to access it) click on the switch, moving it from right to left: a warning will ask you to confirm the choice to disable the tracking and stop, so the creation of the history of Google Maps. In addition, by accessing the management of the data collected by Google, you can also delete the previous information, so that the giant of Mountain View “forget” your every move.