Google Maps Insight Tool on Android Shows Users’ Travelling History

Google Maps is getting an Insights tool that keeps a track of a user’s movement over a period of time. Insights, a part of the Timeline menu, collates users’ movements on a month-to-month basis and according to the modes of transport used. Additionally, the tool also helps users keep track of the places they’ve visited. The Insights tool has started rolling out only for a limited number of users as of now and it is expected to reach everyone sometime soon.

The new Insights tool for Google Maps is a part of the Timeline menu. It can be accessed by tapping on the profile icon on the top right corner and selecting Your Timeline from the pop-up menu. The Timeline offers users six options – Day, Trips, Insights, Places, Cities, and World. According to publications SmartDroid and Android Police, users are able to view the Insights tool in Germany and the UK. However, Gadgets 360 was also able to view the Insights tool but only on devices running Android. There is no information when iOS users will get the feature.

Google Maps’ Insight tool shows bar graphs for the places a user has visited, the modes of transport used
Photo Credit: Gadgets 360/ Screenshot

Google has extensive data on users’ location and location history that it uses to show the data on Insights. Users are shown their travelling history on a monthly basis. It also shows the users’ modes of transport used throughout a particular time period – from walking to flying. All modes of transport also have a bar graph to see how much each mode of transport a user has relied on.

Along with the modes of transport, Insights also shows the kinds of places a user has visited. Places are categorised into shopping, food and drink, attractions, hotels, airports, and more. Google Maps also shows how much time the user spends in each category in neatly laid out bar graphs.

Lastly, Google Maps’ Insight tool also has a Highlights feature that shows the busiest day of the month a user has had. It shows the places they’ve visited and which mode of transport they’ve used the most in that month.