How do I import drives from Google Maps Timeline?

What the import does

If Google Maps Timeline was on before you started OdoTax, or while tracking was off, it kept the drives you made. The import reads them out of the file Google lets you export and adds the ones OdoTax does not have yet, from January 1 three years ago to today. It never changes or replaces a drive OdoTax already has: a drive that overlaps one in your log is left out.

Export the timeline on Android

1. Open the phone’s Settings app
2. Tap Location, then Location services, then Timeline
3. Tap Export Timeline data, then Continue, and save the file — it is called Timeline.json

Export the timeline on iPhone

1. Open Google Maps and tap your picture, then Settings
2. Tap Location & privacy, then Export Timeline data (older versions of the app call it Personal content)
3. Tap Save to Files and pick a place — the file is called location-history.json

Import it

1. In OdoTax, open Settings and tap Import from Google Maps — or tap Import from Google Maps Timeline on Log a drive. Not there? Update OdoTax, or import on the website (the last step)
2. Tap Choose file, pick location-history.json, then tap Read file. OdoTax reads it on the phone and shows, month by month, how many drives it found, how many it already has and how many it would add
3. Tick the months you want and tap Add. You can leave the screen: the import carries on, and the drives keep arriving in Drives — pull down there for the newest
4. Or on a computer: sign in at my.odo.tax, open Trips, click the arrow beside Add a drive, then Import from Google Maps Timeline, choose the file, tick the months and click Add

Import it

1. In OdoTax, open Settings and tap Import from Google Maps — or tap Import from Google Maps Timeline on Log a drive. Not there? Update OdoTax, or import on the website (the last step)
2. Tap Choose file, pick Timeline.json, then tap Read file. OdoTax reads it on the phone and shows, month by month, how many drives it found, how many it already has and how many it would add
3. Tick the months you want and tap Add. You can leave the screen: the import carries on, and the drives keep arriving in Drives — pull down there for the newest
4. Or on a computer: sign in at my.odo.tax, open Trips, click the arrow beside Add a drive, then Import from Google Maps Timeline, choose the file, tick the months and click Add

Import it

1. Sign in at my.odo.tax — on the phone that holds the file, or on a computer you moved it to — and open Trips
2. Click the arrow beside Add a drive, then Import from Google Maps Timeline
3. Choose the file. OdoTax reads it and shows, month by month, how many drives it found, how many it already has and how many it would add
4. Tick the months you want and click Add. The drives appear in Trips as they are added; you can close the page meanwhile

What leaves your device

The file is read on your device — in the OdoTax app, or in the browser on the website. OdoTax sends only the drives Google says were in a car: when each started and ended, where it started and ended, and Google’s distance. The places you visited, your walks and the rest of the history stay on your device, and the drives not added are deleted from OdoTax when the import ends.

How the drives look

Each drive’s miles are measured by road between where it started and ended, as for a drive added by hand, so a total can differ a little from Google’s. The drives arrive unsorted, ready to classify, and OdoTax names their addresses as it does for a recorded drive. They are marked Imported from Google Timeline in the app and on the website, and with a double dagger (‡) in a report.

How much at once

One import adds up to 3,000 drives, and an account can start three imports in any 30 days, so a long history goes in by months. A big import may pause until the next day and carry on by itself. On the free plan OdoTax counts 35 drives a month, so an import adds at most that many in each month; after you go Pro, import the file again to add the rest.

Older Takeout files

Before Google moved Timeline onto phones, Google Takeout gave one file per month under Semantic Location History, such as 2023_MARCH.json. Takeout downloads them as a ZIP archive: unzip it first, then choose the month files — several at once on the website, or one after another with Add another file in the app. Records.json holds raw points without the drives, so it cannot be imported.