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Tell HN: An update on your Google Maps Timeline
20 points by ChrisArchitect 13 days ago | hide | past | favorite | 5 comments
Got an email letting me know G lost over 10 years of trip data for me in the move from 'storing on our servers to storing on your personal device' or whatever's been in the works for months. Brutal. I mean, the backup was there on my device but seems incomplete or part of the botched data. Lovely. What I don't understand is it was on their servers for years so isn't there a backup of like....6 months ago? And they're like ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

> We briefly experienced a technical issue that caused the deletion of Timeline data for some people. We're reaching out as your account may have been impacted.

> If you have encrypted backups enabled, you may be able to restore your data. Make sure you have the latest version of Google Maps, then go to your Timeline. Tap the cloud icon ( ) near the top of your screen, and choose a backup to import your data. If you did not have backups turned on, unfortunately you will not be able to recover lost data.

> We understand that this can be frustrating if you use Timeline to remember places you've visited, and we are taking steps to improve our systems for the future. --The Timeline Team






I've since enabled https://github.com/mendhak/gpslogger/ and sync the output files to my home server using syncthing.

Also checkout Dawarich: https://dawarich.app/docs/tutorials/import-existing-data https://github.com/Freika/dawarich/wiki/How-to-track-your-lo...


Total data loss is run-of-the-mill technical incompetence. Presenting it as "An update" and "briefly experienced a technical issue"... that's a blood boiling moral crime that should carry the death sentence

Thankfully I had the backup, but it is certainly not something that I'd expected from google. Maybe now time to backup all emails and photos...

You can set automated backups on takeout.google.com for everything in your Google account but I'm not sure if it includes the maps stuff since they did e2ee

Got the same. Unbelievable.



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