Google Maps Timeline exports

Google Maps keeps a Timeline of where you have been. RouteConverter 3.7 or later reads the on-device Timeline export (location-history.json) and turns it into routes, tracks and waypoints like any GPS file.

Getting the export file

On the iPhone (menu names vary slightly by app version):

1. Open the Google Maps app and tap the profile picture or initial, then Settings.
2. Google location settings → Timeline.
3. Tap Export timeline data. The export lands in the Files app as location-history.json.

Google retired the cloud-side Takeout timeline export in 2024 — Timeline now lives on the device, and the on-device export is the only way out. Google's Timeline support page has the authoritative steps for your app version.

On Android the same export exists; there the file may be named Timeline.json. This page covers both names.

What RouteConverter makes of it

• Open the .json like any GPS file — drag-and-drop onto the window or File → Open.
• Both export shapes are read: the iOS bare array of positions and the Android semanticSegments structure.
• One track is created per calendar day, named by ISO date such as 2026-09-06, with the points sorted by time. A single journey chopped across the 2-hour buckets of the export becomes one day track.
• All visited places become one extra waypoint list named Visits. Each waypoint's description is the place's semantic type such as Home or Work.
• Activities (driving, walking, cycling, …) are not separate lists — they appear as position descriptions on the day tracks.
• The export carries no elevation. See Complete elevation data to fill it in.
• The format is read-only: RouteConverter can view the day tracks and convert them to other formats, but it cannot write back a Timeline .json.

See also

Getting any other file into RouteConverter — Convert GPS data.