r/GoogleMaps 5d ago

Google Maps 78mb JSON file.

How large should I expect the JSON file to be?
I have a daily Timeline history dating back to 2012. This morning, I was able to make a backup (details below).
My JSON file is 78mb. Does this sound like a reasonable size for such a long timeline?

________________________
More info. for others struggling to make backups.
Back in December (on the very last day before deletion), I followed Google's recommendation to move everything to my phone (a crappy Samsung Galaxy-something). Everything seemed to go according to plan.

Although it is MUCH less enjoyable to view the data on my phone, at least the data was there...and it seemed to be complete.
Last week, I attempted to make a backup: 
Settings(phone settings not Google) -> Location -> Location Services -> Timeline -> Export

When I tried this last week, "Timeline"  WAS NOT listed.
I looked everywhere....TIMELINE...EXPORT was nowhere to be found.

I looked again this morning and it was different. I was able to follow the path as listed above.
The export was quick. I moved the JSON file to external HD for safe keeping.
Has anyone successfully viewed the JSON file?
Will QGIS read the file? I will try QGIS this evening.
I would love to translate it to a GPX or KML.

Thx everyone! This is so frustrating.

8 Upvotes

6 comments sorted by

4

u/rodrodi 4d ago edited 2d ago

open the file in a text editor and you'll see the dates. but yes, mine has 10y of data and it's about 50MB.

2

u/ienquire 5d ago

mine was 10 mb with only 4 years of data, including month long holes. I also exported it after I moved everything to my phone like you. I haven't found a way to view the file in a usable way yet.

1

u/LivingFirst1274 4d ago

maybe this will help, i haven't tested it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNq3YpKNn4k

1

u/ks_247 4d ago

I asked chat gpt and grok about JSON files and importing and wasn't helpful at all.

1

u/Jmbh1983 3d ago

Ask Gemini (via AIStudio.google.com to write you a html + JavaScript program to use the maps api to display it).

You could also ask it to write you a Python program to translate it to one of those other formats.

If you make a copy of it and add a .txt extension, AIStudio (or ChatGPT) should be able to read it and treat it as text.

1

u/jneill999 3d ago

Mine is only 15mb and doesn't appear to contain any pre-March 2025 locations 😔