Cool or Creepy? Google Maps Now Allows You to Stalk Yourself

Where were you on the afternoon of Saturday, Aug. 17, 2013? What was the name of that new eatery you tried a few months ago?

Can’t remember? Just ask Google Maps.

The program’s newest feature, which Google started rolling out on Tuesday, can help. The feature is called “Your Timeline” and the Google Maps blog describes it as “a useful way to remember and view the places you’ve been on a given day, month or year”:

Your Timeline allows you to visualize your real-world routines, easily see the trips you’ve taken and get a glimpse of the places where you spend your time. And if you use Google Photos, we’ll show the photos you took when viewing a specific day, to help resurface your memories.

Your Timeline is available on computers, and on mobile devices like smartphones and tablets that run the Android operating system.

Google notes that Your Timeline is visible only to you. That means only you can stalk yourself.

You can alter Your Timeline. That includes deleting or editing (such as by renaming) specific locations that appear in Your Timeline. Or, you can delete a specific day — or your entire history — from Your Timeline.

This all assumes you have opted into Google storing your location history, though.

Enabling the Location History feature basically allows Google to track your whereabouts to facilitate “the useful experiences it can offer across our products, such as providing [Google] Now notifications when there are traffic incidents along your commute or reminding you where you parked your car,” according to Google.

You can learn more about Location History, including how to disable it, here.

What’s your verdict on Your Timeline — handy or creepy? Share your thoughts in our Forums. It’s a place where you can swap questions and answers on money-related matters, life hacks and ingenious ways to save.