Timeline Visualizer

Visualize an exported Google Maps Timeline JSON file as a private, colour-coded map with date filters, trip statistics, route editing, and animated playback.

How it works

  1. Export your Timeline data from Google Maps as a JSON file.
  2. Choose or drop that file into Timeline Visualizer.
  3. Filter dates, inspect trip statistics, replay routes, and export your corrections.

Privacy by design

Your Timeline JSON is parsed in this browser and is never uploaded. After you choose a file, the browser separately requests OpenFreeMap base-map tiles for the area visible on screen. Read the full privacy details.

Use Timeline Visualizer to understand where your days went

Timeline Visualizer turns exported Google Maps Timeline JSON into an interactive route map in your browser. Load one export, choose a date range, compare travel modes, replay movement, correct route labels, and save a useful summary while the original Timeline file stays on your device.

How to use Timeline Visualizer

Go from a Timeline export to a readable map in three steps.

  1. Export your Timeline

    Save the JSON file from Google Maps or your device settings.

  2. Load it locally

    Drop the file into the tool. Parsing stays in this browser.

  3. Review and save

    Filter, replay, correct modes, then export a map or corrections.

Review, correct, and save

Each control answers a different question about the selected history.

Filter the period before drawing conclusions

Long location histories become easier to read when the time window matches the question you are asking. Use the start and end date fields for an exact range, or choose the last seven days, thirty days, one year, or all time. The statistics panel recalculates from the routes inside that period, so distance, duration, route count, and point count stay aligned with the visible selection. A warning appears when no route falls inside the chosen dates.

The transport summary groups distance into walking and running, cycling, driving and motorcycle, train and bus, flight and ferry, and other or unknown movement. Treat these categories as a review aid rather than an infallible record. Phone sensors, gaps in collection, imported shapes, and automatic activity labels can all create surprising results. Timeline Visualizer makes the classification visible so you can notice an implausible drive, an unexpectedly long walk, or a segment that should remain unknown instead of accepting every label at face value.

Separate cleaner presentation from source evidence

Timeline Visualizer is designed to keep presentation choices reversible and easy to compare.

The display controls change how routes are prepared for viewing. Smoothing makes the line between recorded points easier to follow. Measurement-error removal reduces sharp spikes that are more consistent with a bad location sample than real travel. The gap control can connect discontinuities with a dotted line, which helps explain why two solid route sections do not meet. A dotted connection is a visual cue, not proof that the missing movement followed that exact path.

These choices do not rewrite the selected source file. They let you compare a cleaner presentation with the underlying sequence while preserving uncertainty. For careful review, begin with the defaults, inspect any suspicious segment, then toggle one display option at a time. That approach makes it easier to tell whether a strange shape came from the recorded points, an inferred gap, or a presentation setting.

Replay movement at a useful pace

Static lines show coverage, but playback helps reveal order. Press play to move through the selected period, use the timeline slider to jump to another moment, and select a speed from one minute per second through one month per second. Slow settings are useful for a single outing; faster settings help scan months of activity. The option to skip stops of thirty minutes or more reduces waiting when the goal is to review travel rather than time spent at each location.

Follow mode keeps the current playback point in view. Automatic scale changes the zoom according to the route and its transport category, while the hold option prevents constant scale changes until the mode changes. A fixed scale is useful when you want a stable visual comparison across several segments. Together, these controls let the Timeline Visualizer playback serve both close inspection and a faster overview without pretending that animation adds precision to the original samples.

Correct transport labels without altering the original

When a coloured route has the wrong category, click the route and choose a more accurate transport mode. The legend and statistics update from that local override. Corrections are deliberate, route-level annotations; they do not edit the Google Maps account and they do not overwrite the selected JSON. This boundary keeps the source export available for comparison.

Use the export button to download a separate JSON file containing the route identifiers and chosen categories. The correction file is most useful as an audit trail or as input for your own later workflow. It includes a source filename reference and export time, but applying those edits back to another system remains your responsibility. Timeline Visualizer does not claim to synchronise corrections with Google Maps.

Save a map only after checking the visible result

The image action creates a PNG from the current map canvas and adds a compact summary of distance, duration, routes, and points. Before saving, set the intended dates, display options, and zoom, then confirm that the visible route tells the story you want to keep. Remote tile security rules or browser canvas restrictions can prevent an image export; when that happens, the page reports the failure instead of uploading the map elsewhere.

A saved image can expose sensitive places even though the source file never left the browser. Review home, work, medical, school, and travel locations before sharing it. Crop or redact details outside the tool when necessary. Local processing protects the upload path, but it cannot decide whether a screenshot is safe to publish or send.

Frequently asked questions

Export, privacy, compatibility, and troubleshooting answers.

How do I export and load a Timeline file?

The workflow begins with the JSON export created by Google Maps or your device settings. On iPhone, open Google Maps, select your profile picture, continue through Settings and Location & Privacy, then choose the Timeline export option and save the file. On Android, open device Settings, choose Location, Location services, and Timeline, then export the data to a location you can find again. The result is commonly named location-history.json, although the exact name and field layout can vary by phone, operating system, and Google Maps version.

Return to the page and drop the JSON into the file area, or click the area to choose it. Timeline Visualizer reads the file only after that action. A valid export fills the date controls, route totals, point totals, travel-mode distances, and playback range. If the structure is not recognised, the page reports a reading error instead of silently inventing a map.

Does Timeline Visualizer upload my location history?

Timeline Visualizer is designed to separate local file processing from base-map network requests.

Your exported Timeline JSON is parsed in the active browser tab. Filtering, route preparation, distance calculations, transport corrections, playback positions, and correction exports are produced on the device. This build has no account system, advertising script, behavioural analytics, or server endpoint for receiving the selected file. Reloading or closing the page clears the loaded model from the tab.

After a valid file is selected, the browser asks OpenFreeMap for the style, fonts, and tiles needed for the visible map area. Those requests reveal ordinary network information to the tile provider, but the Timeline JSON is not attached to them.

Which Timeline formats and browsers are supported?

Google has changed Timeline storage and export structures over time, and different devices may produce different fields. A file with no usable route sequence, malformed JSON, or an unsupported structure cannot produce trustworthy statistics. Confirm that the file is exported Timeline JSON rather than a screenshot, archive, or HTML page.

The interactive map uses WebGL. Current versions of Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari normally support it, but disabled hardware acceleration, restrictive enterprise policy, or older graphics drivers can block the map.

What should I check if nothing appears?

Start with the status message beside the file control. A reading error points to the file format; a loaded route and point count shows that parsing succeeded. Reset the range to all time, then check WebGL, hardware acceleration, content blockers, and access to OpenFreeMap. If the line looks implausible, compare smoothing, measurement-error removal, dotted gaps, and transport labels one setting at a time.

Do not attach a real location-history file to a public issue or casual email. A small synthetic sample is safer. Questions can be sent to support@timelinevisualizer.online.

Can this map prove where someone was?

Timeline Visualizer is designed to support personal review, not to certify where someone was.

A location-history export is an imperfect record assembled from device observations and service decisions. The map can help with trip review, travel journaling, mileage exploration, and route comparison. It should not be treated as conclusive evidence of attendance, identity, speed, exact path, or intent. Critical decisions deserve corroboration from original records and appropriate professional processes.

Timeline Visualizer is a private browser-based tool for turning exported Google Maps Timeline JSON into an interactive route map. Its job is to make a user-selected export easier to inspect while separating local processing, base-map requests, reversible display choices, and separately downloaded outputs.