Google just sent a summary of my travel which it detected during 2019, including 653 miles of walking, 2453 miles of cycling and 2381 miles in vehicles, a total of 29% around the world! It has highlighted 'cities' that I've visited, including Fulwood (a suburb of Preston!), Buckingham and Ratho, as well as 'places', including Loch Ba Viewpoint, Ardmore Forest, Waterstones (Princes St. branch), Odeon Preston and The Edinburgh Book Shop. It also says that I travelled to Spielberg in Austria, but I didn't leave the UK: this occurred whilst I was actually at Silverstone for the British Grand Prix. Strange stuff.
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(14531 posts)- Started 14 years ago by recombodna
- Latest reply from jdanielp
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Posted 4 years ago #
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I'm prepared to bet that Spielberg will be where the Red Bull headquarters is, and that your phone was picked up by a server/some other kind of device that was on the Austrian network while being physically at Silverstone.
Edit: Googled, not quite right. Spielberg is where the Red Bull Ring racing circuit is.
Posted 4 years ago # -
Google just sent a summary of my travel which it detected
If my telephone ever did any such thing I would put it in a goblet of aqua regia.
Posted 4 years ago # -
@fimm indeed.
@IWRATS as a compromise I do get to use Just Eat Cycles.
Posted 4 years ago # -
Do you think CEC/Just Eat/Serco have excluded me from the scheme or have I excluded myself?
Posted 4 years ago # -
Google info is actually quite interesting, even if a bit scary.
For 2019 it says I walked 156 miles, cycled 6600 and was in a vehicle for 4,200.
Posted 4 years ago # -
@IWRATS a little from column A, a little from column B...
Posted 4 years ago # -
Just "deleted"* the small amount of location data that Google purported to hold on me.
*I'm sure it's not really deleted from the Google servers, only a facade of deletion
Apparently, you only need the location of a person's workplace and their home to be able to work out who they are. Very unlikely that 2 people have the exact same commute
Posted 4 years ago # -
@jdanielp
I concur. Takes two not to tango.
Posted 4 years ago # -
Very unlikely that 2 people have the exact same commute
but not nill, I lived in the same street as a guy who cycled to the same office as me.
Posted 4 years ago # -
There's a man who sometimes walks past my house on his way to the bus stop who used to work in the same floor as me, who is presumably coming from one of the limited number of streets up to a quarter of a mile further away from the bus stop. One of the children's pals' dads could occasionally be seen on his work lunch break when I was on my work lunch break and I sometimes see one of the mums from Saturday morning swimming lessons within a few metres of the back of my office. I've seen a couple of other people from the next department over on Leith Links, a couple of people from one floor down in Duke St Tesco and an analyst from a recent project in Easter Road Lidl. I also sit near two people who have the exact same commute down to the very door.
Posted 4 years ago # -
"Cities visited: Kielder! Aberfeldy! Gatehouse of Fleet!"
It's under-measured my cycling distance by about half, but it frequently represents my gently curved routes as jagged polygonal slashings even with location accuracy set to high. It'll only track exactly when running navigation or when I'm recording a run.Posted 4 years ago # -
@iwrats maybe google has detected the wee bikes on your new shirt? Facebook was trying to sell me the similar shirt. Was quite pricey but very nicey
Posted 4 years ago # -
I lived in the same street as a guy who cycled to the same office as me
Location tracking accuracy is much better than street level, more like down to the individual house / block.
Chances of someone living in the same house / block and doing the same commute? Husband/wife/family team maybe, but then all related...
Anyway, the point remains, that big-data orgs only need to collect a few locations to identify someone uniquely.
Posted 4 years ago # -
I finally got the chance to chat to the young lady who rides the Union of Genius soup transporter bike as we were both stuck in the run-in to the Hellscape. She is every bit as cool as she looks and even said nice things about the SUNLIT Uplander and
Posted 4 years ago # -
Although Google clearly knows who I am it's always trying to get me to complete visits on my timeline by confirming I was at my next-door neighbours' house instead of my own. Maybe my next-door neighbours have been telling Google they live at my house, so Google thinks ours is full and that we must be in the empty house next-door instead.
Posted 4 years ago # -
Google stats
This year we flew to visit daughter in South Africa so any carbon savings Mrs LB and I have done elsewhere were completely eclipsed. Was 3 years since we visited last.- 499 mi - walking
1895 mi - cycling
2598 mi - vehicles (bus, train, taxi, lifts in a car)Total distance was 20,538 miles so remaining
15,546 miles will be flying (including microlight twice in East Lothian?).Posted 4 years ago # -
IWRATS is better at recognising me in the dark than I am at him.
Was it you who shouted at me on the Water of Leith path by the Warriston crematorium bridge on a rainy evening a month or so ago?Posted 4 years ago # -
No. I do my shouting from steeples. Great to catch up.
Posted 4 years ago # -
Two evenings in a row: Someone doing an immaculate trackstand at Gilmerton crossroads on a longtail bike (set up for carrying small passengers, I think).
Posted 4 years ago # -
Great to spot you Greenroofer. Glad you had such a good ride. I love riding gravel in the pentlands.
I was out with a friend while our wives went for a walk with the kids. Rather terrible of us to head into the hills and leave them alone like that however what a day to be out in the hills. We did what I call my 1 hour loop which is up through the reservoirs and up to Maidens Cleugh and across harbour hill to a particularly excellent decent called Scalextric. Then we went down through the woods in Bonaly Country Park at which point when looking for the best path I did a spectacular over the handlebars flip when I hit a wet root and missed the handlebars. Amazing. I was laughing the whole way down.
Posted 4 years ago # -
A slightly more convicing high five with gembo on NMW this morning. Also the first time I've high fived from the MTB.
Posted 4 years ago # -
Spotted winpig turning into the Canongate from St. Mary's Street this evening.
Posted 4 years ago # -
At least that means my emergency battery-powered rubbish lighting enables me to be seen. Lunchtime rewiring didn't take.
Posted 4 years ago # -
Anyone know what these are called and who makes them?
Posted 4 years ago # -
These look like a variant of spiral racks
Posted 4 years ago # -
Spotted @Roibeard at Good's Corner. So excited one of my balls dropped off. No sweat, I'd found it on the ground outside work a couple of days back.
Posted 4 years ago # -
Spotted a load of Extinction Rebellion folk outside the Bailie Gifford offices on Leith Street with about as many police officers as there were protestors.
EDIT: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-51106996
Posted 4 years ago #
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