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mahlernim/google-timeline-visualizer

863+575 todayKotlin

An app that turns your Google Timeline location history into a travel map video

Timeline Visualizer is an open-source app that reads your Google Maps Timeline export file and turns a year of travel into an animated map video. It comes as both an Android app and an iPhone web app, and processes your location data entirely on-device without uploading it. Written in Kotlin, the project has 863 stars on GitHub.

What it does

  1. You load a Timeline.json file exported from Google Maps settings, pick a date range (by month or exact dates), and get an animated route video lasting 10 to 300 seconds
  2. The Android app is installed via a downloadable APK, while iPhone users open a web app in Safari with no install needed; MP4 creation requires Safari 16.4 or newer
  3. Users can customize camera movement (fixed or dynamic), video format (480p to 1080p, square, portrait, or landscape), and GPS outlier filtering for stray coordinates
  4. Finished videos are saved to Movies/Timeline Visualizer on Android and can be watched, shared, or deleted from an in-app video library
  5. No Google sign-in or location permission is required, the Timeline file itself is never uploaded, and only map tile requests for viewed areas are sent to CARTO's map service

Why it matters

It gives anyone who wants to visualize a year of travel, or create a shareable trip video, a free tool that keeps personal location data private and local. The project is open source and also ships a desktop Python version, letting developers build or customize it themselves.

Terms in this repo

  • Timeline.json · the exported file containing a user's Google Maps location history
  • E7 coordinates · latitude/longitude values multiplied by 10^7 and stored as integers
  • great-circle path · the shortest route between two points on a sphere, used to smooth long flight segments
  • CARTO · a map tile service that serves imagery based on OpenStreetMap data
  • APK · an Android app installation file that can be installed directly without the Play Store

Repository description (English)

Visualize your year in travel using your Google Location History (Timeline) data

Open on GitHub

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