The red dots on the left side of the map have been recorded by Google Maps Timeline 2022, from my smartphone, as places I have been to, and which are OK - I know all of them as places I go to regularly.
The ones on the right side of the map are a mystery to me. I went out this morning to the nearest red dot and came to the end of a countryside cul-de-sac and a large barn-house recently converted to apartments. It was the right address, as noted by Google, but I have never been there! And the other red dots nearby as well.
Does Google make mistakes? I don’t lend my smartphone to anyone.
Does anyone else use your Google account on another device? I imagine this data, like most else, goes back to the mothership and is therefore accessible/updateable from elsewhere…
No, I don’t share anything on my Google account. I’m not bothered, just curious. I did wonder if I have a second unknown life, but think that’s not likely!
This is the first time I have received an email from Google telling me all the places I’ve been to in 2022. I think I might untick the box on my phone that gives Google permission to follow me.
A friend said I’d been cloned and I should be wary because I might get a gendarme feeling my collar because I showed up on Google Maps at a bank that had been robbed on the very day it had been robbed!
You’re probably right. But for the fun of it, I’m going to visit all those false locations to see what they are. The first one I saw this morning was a building with a proper address, but one of them appears to be in the woods! Wonder what was I doing there?
In the past we’ve found the GPS system on smart phones very good, and use the Ordnance Survey app to track our walks and progress. Just last week we tried to record a route with the app and it returned nonsense results very much in the style of information presented by bonzocat. I wonder if something has gone wrong with GPS operations?
I switch off all geolocation and tracking wherever possible. If something really needs it, it’ll soon become evident. It very seldom is critical for anything.
I’d love to, but the reason I have a smartphone is not just for getting access to my bank account, or to make an internet purchase - things like that - but more importantly, in case the car breaks down in the middle of nowhere. Unlikely, never have yet, but possible and don’t want to chance it at my age!
Shan’t bother. Get confused by all things Google, except searching for information - it’s good for that - but don’t want them calling me. I shall untick the ‘follow me’ box on my phone.
Google’s location precision isn’t always, well, precise, so that might be one explanation.
Depending on how my phone is connected to the internet, the precision can be off by a few kilometres.
You need to turn off the Google tracking ! But if you do really want to keep track of exactly where you’ve been, I suggest using the Open GPX Tracker app (iPhone). My camera does not have GPS, so I find the app very useful when we go for trips and take photos. It creates a GPX file that you can open in the Lightroom Maps module and enables you to tag each of the photos taken with its GPS coords. And it uses Open Street Map which is infinitely nicer than any Google map !
I am not at all technical, but if the signal where you actually are is weak then your phone might default to a nearby IP address? A bit like someone sticking a pin in a map without their glasses on - they know you are somewhere nearby but not precisely where.
(Edit…just went to look at my 2022 timeline: 4 countries, 72 cities and 269 places. That’s more than 1 different city a week. I don’t remember doing that!)
