Tracking your trip App

[Chuckanut]

Normally, I don't want my phone to track where I go, every step of the way.

But, when I travel I would like to be able to make a map of my trip showing where I have been down to the last possible detail - air travel, bus and train travel, where I walk in a city, etc.

I've been using Polarsteps

https://www.polarsteps.com/

but I am wondering if there is a better one

Any suggestions for such an app?

 

[Exrook]

If you are logged into Google and use Google Maps at all, check your timeline:

1. Go to Your Account
2. Under "Personal Info and Privacy", select "Manage Your Google activity"
3. Scroll down to "Timeline in Google Maps"
4. Realize just how little privacy we have anymore.

 

[wanaberetiree]

If you are logged into Google and use Google Maps at all, check your timeline:

1. Go to Your Account
2. Under "Personal Info and Privacy", select "Manage Your Google activity"
3. Scroll down to "Timeline in Google Maps"
4. Realize just how little privacy we have anymore.

I have none, so it must be disabled somewhere

 

[Ronstar]

Thanks for posting, Chuckanut. I used to use my handheld Garmin to record my daily travels. But I quit using it because it was a PITA.

I now make maps in mymaps in Google maps before a trip and edit it manually afterwards. Still a PITA. I think I'll give polar steps a try.

 

[braumeister]

I've been using Polarsteps

Thanks!
That looks like a nice little app. I have a trip coming up so I'll give it a shot.

 

[Lsbcal]

Normally, I don't want my phone to track where I go, every step of the way.

But, when I travel I would like to be able to make a map of my trip showing where I have been down to the last possible detail - air travel, bus and train travel, where I walk in a city, etc.
...

Not to be critical at all but why do it in such detail? Do you look back at this stuff? Just curious.

 

[rodi]

Google used to have an app called mytracks.... but they discontinued that. I found it useful - especially in small Italian towns where you park outside the walls - and it's all narrow windy streets in the center... Very useful for figuring out where you left your car.

Google maps now has a function that you can "drop a pin" where you parked your car. I realize it's not the same function you're looking for - but it solves my previous problem.

 

[Chuckanut]

Not to be critical at all but why do it in such detail? Do you look back at this stuff? Just curious.

I was hoping to convert the tracking into a map, and add that image to my photo collection of the trip. Why? Well, because I can and it seems like fun.

 

[Lsbcal]

I was hoping to convert the tracking into a map, and add that image to my photo collection of the trip. Why? Well, because I can and it seems like fun.

I take fewer pics nowadays. Generally I take the grouping off Google Drive and stick them in a folder on my PC labeled something like "Netherlands 2017". Then I rarely look at them after showing them to some friends or family off our TV screen. Sometimes I've created an Excel file to go along with those jpegs with short explanations.

But I do wonder whether I'll remember the specifics 10 years from now. Got to be a better way. But I don't want to depend on an app which might degrade or go away over time.

 

[Ronstar]

An animated moving map can be made in Apple Keynote and added to a video.

 

[Chuckanut]

I have found that the photo books are a great way to remember and show others a trip. And, since they can be a bit pricey, there is a huge incentive to really edit the photos down to that 5-10% that are actually interesting to others.

 

[sengsational]

When I'm on the go, I pretty much always have a crummy little phone with a local sim card in it and it's showing my location on a map. So I take screen shots of the map. When I get back home, I make a trip folder and put the pictures in dated folders under the main folder. The the screen shots of the maps go in the appropriate folder. I wrote a quick bit of code to rename the picture and screen shot images so they sort with the slide show. I usually have a separate camera and two phones, so the hard part is making sure the clocks are all synched and time zones set the same.

 

[braumeister]

Maybe just let Big Brother do it for you:

If you’re using an Android phone, Google may be tracking every move you make

Biking? Google probably knows you are. Up a mountain? It probably knows that, too.

Today, Location History is used to power features like traffic predictions and restaurant recommendations. While it is not enabled on an Android phone by default—or even suggested to be turned on when setting up a new phone—activating Location History is subtly baked into setup for apps like Google Maps, Photos, the Google Assistant, and the primary Google app. In testing multiple phones, Quartz found that none of those apps use the same language to describe what happens when Location History is enabled, and none explicitly indicate that activation will allow every Google app, not just the one seeking permission, to access Location History data.

 

[audreyh1]

My camera does a good job by recording the GOS location of every photo. The iPhone does the same. So I simply take a picture when I want to know. My photo software like Lightroom or Apple Photos automatically create maps showing where photos were taken. I’ve done screenshots of this before.

DH often runs tracks of daily excursions.

 

[OldShooter]

You're ok then with the vendor selling your travel history to anyone who wants it?

 

[Chuckanut]

You're ok then with the vendor selling your travel history to anyone who wants it?

Actually, that is probably one of the least important things they can snoop into, IMHO. Thanks to an old health insurance company most of my personal info has been out in the wild for years. And thanks to Equifax, anything that was missing or not current is now available to the criminals.

I am more worried about my medical history, driving record, financial condition and my status in the Witness Protection Program.

 

[Ronstar]

Well I tried out Polarsteps. Unless there is a way to lessen the interval between location acquisitions in the app, it is just not accurate enough for me. In the edited screenshot, the white line is the polarsteps track. I drew in the pink line, being part of the route I drove.