travel history timeline

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In the coming months, the Location History setting name will change to Timeline. If Location History is turned on for your account, you may find Timeline in your app and account settings. Learn more .

Google Maps Timeline

Manage your Timeline

Google Maps Timeline is a personal map that helps you remember routes and trips you've taken and places you've been based on your Location History. You can edit your Timeline at any time and delete your Location History in Timeline.

If you have settings like Web & App Activity turned on and you turn off Location History or delete location data from Location History, you may still have location data saved in your Google Account as part of your use of other Google Sites, apps, and services. This activity can include info about your location from your device’s general area and IP address. For example, location data may be saved as part of activity on Search and Google Maps when your Web & App Activity setting is on, and included in your photos, depending on your camera app settings.

Important: You can find Timeline on the Google Maps app version 9.12 and up. If your Google Maps app is older, go to maps.google.com/timeline on your computer or mobile browser to use Timeline.

Create Timeline

To build your Timeline, you need to turn on your Location Services and Location History. Location History is a Google Account setting that creates Timeline, a personal map that helps you remember routes and trips you've taken and places you've been. Learn more about Location History .

• Under “Location settings,” check that it says “Location is on.” If it doesn’t, tap Location is off and turn on Location .
• Under “Location settings,” check that it says “Location History is on.” If it doesn’t, tap Location History is off and turn on Location History .

Find your travels

When Location History is on, Timeline shows where and how you traveled, like walking, biking, driving, or on public transport. 

• To find another day or month, at the top, tap Today . Swipe left or right on the calendar and tap a day.

Turn Location History on or off

When you turn on Location History, your precise device location is regularly saved — to your devices and Google’s servers, even when Google apps aren’t being used, and creates your Timeline.

To turn your Location History on or off:

• On your Android phone or tablet, open the Google Maps app.
• Tap Location History is off or Location History is on.
• Turn Location History on or off.

Learn more about how to manage or delete your Location History .

Edit Timeline

If a place is wrong on Timeline, you can edit the location and when you were there. 

• Find the wrong place on your timeline and tap it.
• At the bottom, tap the correct place or activity in the suggestions. To search for a place, scroll to the bottom and tap Search.
• To edit when you were there, tap the time.

To change how Timeline measures distance:

• Choose Automatic , Kilometers , or Miles .
• At the top, tap Today . Swipe left or right on the calendar and tap the day you want to delete.
• To delete some of your history, tap Delete Location History range .
• To delete everything, tap Delete all Location History .

Automatically delete your Location History

You can automatically delete Location History that’s older than 3 months, 18 months, or 36 months.

• Scroll to “Location settings.”
• Tap Automatically delete Location History .
• Follow the on-screen instructions.

Improve the accuracy of Timeline

Occasionally, you may find mistakes on Timeline. For example, when you're in dense urban areas, Timeline may show that you visited one restaurant when in fact you dined at another nearby. You can help us improve the accuracy of Timeline to limit mistakes by doing the following: 

• Turn on Web & App Activity : If you've previously turned on Web & App Activity , Timeline uses information from your use of other Google products during the time it was on. This activity can include info about your location from your device’s general area and IP address. For example, if you searched for a local restaurant, Timeline considers that information when determining whether you visited that restaurant or the one next door.
• Confirm where you’ve been: You can manually confirm the places that you've been by recording them directly on Timeline.

When you turn on Web & App Activity and sign in to your Google Account, Google saves searches and browsing activity, including related information like location. This activity can include info about your location from your device’s general area and IP address. This information improves Google’s understanding of where you may have traveled, which makes Timeline more accurate.

Turn on Web & App Activity

• Under “App history,” choose Web & App Activity is off .
• Turn on Web & App Activity .

Tips & tricks

If your visit to a place is in Timeline, you can find the last time that you visited in Google Maps. 

• Select a place from Timeline.
• Tap Details .

If you've saved your home and work addresses to Google, they show up on Timeline. In addition to Timeline, this information may also be used in other Google products and services.

Learn how to set your home and work addresses .

You’re in control

You can always review your data, and any choices you make here, at activity.google.com or your Timeline .

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Art & Culture Travel Blog

History of travelling: how people started to travel.

• Tea Gudek Šnajdar
• Cultural Tourism

Although we often have a feeling like people are travelling for the last few decades only, the truth is – people are travelling for centuries. Old Romans were travelling to relax in their Mediterranean villas. At the same time, people in Eastern Asia wandered for cultural experiences. I’ve got so fascinated with the history of travelling, that I did my own little research on how people started to travel. And here is what I’ve learned.

History of travelling

I was always curious about the reason people started to travel. Was it for pure leisure? To relax? Or to learn about new cultures, and find themselves along the way?

I wanted to chaise the reason all the way to its source – to the first travellers. And hopped to find out what was the initial motivation for people to travel.

According to linguists, the word ‘travel’ was first used in the 14th century. However, people started to travel much earlier.

While looking at the history of travelling and the reasons people started to travel, I wanted to distinguish the difference between travellers and explorers. Most of the time, when thinking about travel in history, people like Marco Polo or Christopher Columbus are coming to mind. However, they weren’t really travellers in a modern sense. They were explorers and researchers. So, to really learn about how people started to travel, I wanted to focus on ordinary people. Travellers like you and me, if you wish.

Romans and their roads

First people who started to travel for enjoyment only were, I’m sure you won’t be surprised, old Romans. Wealthy Romans would often go to their summer villas. And it was purely for leisure. They could, of course, start doing that because they invented something quite crucial for travelling – roads. Well developed network of roads was the reason they could travel safely and quickly.

However, there is another reason that motivated people in Antiquity to travel. And I was quite amazed when I learned about it.

It was a desire to learn. They believed travelling is an excellent way to learn about other cultures, by observing their art, architecture and listening to their languages.

Sounds familiar? It seems like Romans were the first culture tourists.

⤷ Read more : 20 Archaeological sites you have to visit in Europe

Travelling during the Middle Ages

It may come by surprise, but people started to wander more during the Middle Ages. And most of those journeys were pilgrimages.

Religion was the centre of life back in the Middle Ages. And the only things that connected this world with the saints people were worshipping, were the relics of saints. Pilgrims would often travel to another part of the country, or even Europe to visit some of the sacred places.

The most popular destinations for all those pilgrims was Santiago de Compostela, located in northwest Spain. People would travel for thousands of kilometres to reach it. To make a journey a bit easier for them, and to earn money from the newly developed tourism, many guest houses opened along the way. Pilgrims would often visit different towns and churches on their way, and while earning a ticket to heaven, do some sightseeing, as well.

Wealthy people were travelling in the caravans or by using the waterways. What’s changing in the Middle Ages was that travel wasn’t reserved only for the rich anymore. Lower classes are starting to travel, as well. They were travelling on foot, sleeping next to the roads or at some affordable accommodations. And were motivated by religious purposes.

⤷ TIP : You can still find many of those old pilgrim’s routes in Europe. When in old parts of the cities (especially in Belgium and the Netherlands ), look for the scallop shells on the roads. They will lead you to the local Saint-Jacob’s churches. Places dedicated to that saint were always linked to pilgrims and served as stops on their long journeys. In some cities, like in Antwerp , you can follow the scallop shell trails even today.

Below you can see one of the scallop shells on a street and Saint-Jacques Church in Tournai , Belgium.

Grand Tours of the 17th century

More impoverished people continued to travel for religious reasons during the following centuries. However, a new way of travelling appeared among wealthy people in Europe.

Grand tours are becoming quite fashionable among the young aristocrats at the beginning of the 17th century. As a part of their education (hmmm… culture tourists, again?) they would go on a long journey during which they were visiting famous European cities. Such as London , Paris , Rome or Venice, and were learning about their art, history and architecture.

Later on, those grand tours became more structured, and they were following precisely the same route. Often, young students would be accompanied by an educational tutor. And just to make the things easier for them, they were allowed to have their servants with them, too.

One of those young aristocrats was a young emperor, Peter the Great of Russia. He travelled around western Europe and has spent a significant amount of his time in the Netherlands. The architecture of Amsterdam and other Dutch cities definitely inspired a layout of the new city he has built – Saint Petersburg . So, travelling definitely remains an essential part of education since Roman times.

⤷ Read more : 15 Best museums in Europe you have to visit this year

The railway system and beginning of modern travel in the 19th century

Before the railway system was invented, people mostly travelled on foot (budget travel) or by water (the first-class travel at that time). However, when in the 1840s, an extensive network of railways was built, people started to travel for fun.

Mid-19th century definitely marks a real beginning of modern tourism. It’s the time when the middle class started to grow. And they have found a way to travel easily around Europe.

It’s coming by no surprise that the first travel agency, founded by Thomas Cook in England, was established at that time, too. He was using recently developed trains together with a network of hotels to organise his first group trips.

⤷ Read more : The most interesting European myths and legends

History of travelling in the 20th century

Since then, things started to move quickly. With the development of transportation, travelling became much more accessible. Dutch ships would need around a year to travel from Amsterdam to Indonesia. Today, for the same trip, we need less than a day on a plane.

After the Second World War, with the rise of air travel, people started to travel more and more. And with the internet and all the cool apps we have on our smartphones, it’s easier than ever to move and navigate your way in a new country. Mass tourism developed in the 1960s. But, with the new millennium, we started to face the over-tourism.

We can be anywhere in the world in less than two days. And although it’s a great privilege of our time, it also bears some responsibilities. However, maybe the key is to learn from history again and do what old Romans did so well. Travel to learn, explore local history and art, and be true culture tourists.

History of Travelling , How people started to travel , Travel

• How to enable Location History in Google Maps

How to see your Google Maps timeline in the mobile app

How to see your google maps timeline on the website, how to check your google maps timeline and see every place you've traveled.

• Your Google Maps timeline shows all the countries, cities, and attractions you've visited.
• You can see your timeline in the Google Maps mobile app and on the website.
• You'll need to make sure you have Location History enabled on your Google account for the timeline to work.

Nearly every major app tracks your location in some way. And while most try to keep this a secret (and won't even tell you why they need it), Google Maps is pretty public when it comes to using your location.

But Google Maps doesn't just use it to give you directions and show your current location . If you have it enabled, you can also create a Google Maps timeline , which lets you see where you traveled on a specific day, any attractions or restaurants you've visited, towns you've been to, and countries that you've traveled in.

Here's how to check your Google Maps timeline — and how to enable Location History so you can make a timeline in the first place.

1. Open Google Maps on your iPhone or Android, and tap your profile picture in the top-right corner.

2. Tap Your timeline .

The screen will change, and a large menu will appear with a variety of options at the top. They'll be a bit different depending on whether you're using an iPhone or Android.

On both devices, you'll see:

• Day: Here, you can see all the places you've visited in a single day. It'll also show you how you got there (via subway, car, etc.) and how long you spent at each location.
• Places: This shows the different restaurants, attractions, shops, hotels, and more you've visited. They'll be sorted into different categories, which you can tap to see a full list.
• Cities: You'll get a list of all the towns and cities you've visited, and when you visited them. Tap a city name to see where you went in that city and how often.
• World: A list of all the countries you've traveled to. Tap a country in the list to see which cities you've gone to.

If you're using an Android, you'll also see Trips and Insights . Trips shows (as the name suggests) the vacations and getaways you've taken. Insights tracks how much time you've spent walking, driving, and taking public transit every month, along with how far you've traveled and what you spent your time doing.

You can find the timeline on the Google Maps website too, but it looks a bit different.

1. Open Google Maps on your computer and click the three stacked lines in the top-left corner.

2. Select Your timeline .

You'll be brought to the Timeline page. Here, you can:

• Click one of the blue bars at the top-left of the screen or enter a specific day to see all the places you traveled on that day.
• Click the red Places option in the bottom-left to see every business, attraction, and place of interest you've visited.
• Click the More Trips box to check out the vacations and get-aways you've been on.

You can also double-click a red dot on the map to check out the exact day you traveled to that spot.

If you clicked something and want to reset the map, click Timeline in the top-left to return to your main Timeline page.

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