Create a heatmap of your Google Maps trips

15 Feb 2015

javascript • google • plotting • maps • dataviz • [archive]

In this post, I am not writing code in Python or Julia (even though it was inspired by these instructions that use Python code). I will show how to use online JavaScript-based tool to plot your Google Maps locations in a heatmap form. You can use it even if you don’t know how to code at all.

It is called Location History Visualizer; the instructions are on the page once you open it. You can either use:

• Google Takeout to download your Google Maps location history (uncheck the other boxes), or:
• Google Location History KML API endpoint (much faster but still a bit experimental) — the file downloads automatically

After obtaining either file, just drag it onto the Visualizer page.

The heatmap of your travels (as recorded through Google Maps history) will be displayed. I have no spatial orientation at all, so I use GPS on my phone to go to a local grocery store. Therefore, I have a lot of Google Maps data.

Boston:

San Antonio:

It also shows my recent trip from Texas to Chicago:

The controls are on the left bottom. I think this example shows that JS is still the king of data visualization.