Thursday, August 1, 2024

Your History

I don't know why Google Maps has done this, but it has removed the travel history feature from web browsers, effectively meaning you can't see it on a desktop or I guess laptop. It can be time consuming but my photos upload to my desktop, numbered with a date and time. If I really need to find where a photo was taken, I check the date and then check on Google Maps where I visited that day.

Of course I can check on my Google Maps phone app, or tablet, but it is quicker and easier on the desktop. Yes, I am a dinosaur with my preference for a desktop computer.

It was not so long ago that you could do more on a desktop than with an app on your phone. I've noticed this is changing with apps are able to do more and more easily than a desktop. One instance is phone banking apps. A lot of time, effort and money must have put into these apps. I haven't needed to log in to bank using my desktop for ages. I can do all with the apps. 

This is a travel map of the day completed the target of travelling on every Melbourne tram route, the largest tram system in the world, by travelling on the outer end of route 75 to Vermont South from Camberwell Junction. It was rather boring but fortunately I had the company of my friend from the Gold Coast. 

Here is the map showing my travel. It is not entirely correct as we walked from Toorak Road to Hartwell Station, quite a distance. It was a case of thinking you know but you don't. 

Here is a link to when I was at Harwell and took some mural photos. Ah, I found the others

Tram to Melbourne Flinders Street, train to Camberwell, walk down the Burke Road hill to catch the 75 to the terminus. Return on the tram to Hartwell, walk to the station, train to the city. We missed a train by a couple of minutes so I think we had twenty minutes to wait, but fortunately the next was the start of through trains in the evening peak, instead of Alamein shuttle train to Camberwell and then change to a Belgrave or Lilydale train to continue to the city.  

41 comments:

  1. The small font and wobbly hands and eyes means that I struggle with phone apps. I still do my banking on the PC - and am grateful for it.

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    1. EC, the problem with the PC for me is getting the cursor to where it needs to be without it wobbling all over the place. Maybe I should slow the speed of the cursor.

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  2. I have never used that function. Too complicated for my over-taxed brain.

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    1. JayCee, I've found it is quite intuitive and not difficult but I have been using it for quite a few years now.

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  3. I have heard other people use the term "app" but I have no idea what it means. Can you eat one - as in "apple"? By the way, August 1st is Yorkshire Day! You have my permission to treat yourself to a special celebratory evening meal.

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    1. Application and I'm sure you knew this.

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    2. YP, sorry. I don't allow the use of the word Apple, Jobs or iAnything on my blog. Tough roast beef, a bit of old scone dough called a pudding, overcooked vegetables. No, thank you so much.

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  4. I've considered myself a Ludite for decades and *finally* embraced my smart phone. My favorite feature is still the weather app. lol Be well!

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    1. Darla, aside from my Gmail and newspaper app, the weather is probably my most used app too.

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  5. I spent my childhood at Camberwell junction. Despite all shops have gone, walking on Burke Rd was quite nostalgic

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    1. Roentare, there are much classier people at Camberwell Junction than on the streets of St Kilda too. I am surprised you say all the shops have gone. I can't say I noticed that when I was last there, walking down the hill. To go uphill, the tram is better.

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  6. I am not much of an app guy ... I go old school and bank on the computer!

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    1. Bob, I expected I would continue to use the PC for fortnightly banking to pay bills, pay Ray whatever I owed him and whatever else, but I soon found out it was much quicker and easier using the apps.

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  7. "...dinosaur with my preference for a desktop computer."

    Me, too, simply because the pictures and text are BIGGER. Why squint if you don't have to?

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    1. My phone has a fairly large screen Kirk, so I don't really have an issue, and I can stretch out whatever I am looking at if I need to. Now, pictures and videos are quite another matter and for me they must be at least tablet sized, or better PC screen sized. I don't know how people find excitement in watching anything on a phone.

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  8. I work only with tablet and phone. My laptop was outdated years ago and it's beyond my means to replace it. I'm so used to the portability of my small devices for everything now. Banking included.

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    1. Boud, yes, you can get used to these portable devices quite well, as I have. But I've been using a desktop since the mid nineties and I still find it better in many ways, especial for dealing with photos and creating blog posts, along with typing.

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  9. The Golfer is the only one to use our ‘big computer’ - he changes things around so often I need a quick revision each time I go near it…..so my iPad and phone do me well (even if I do have to put my glasses on)

    I suppose if you were really keen and used a function constantly (as you do) it would be annoying to lose that possibility. Companies are cunning in that they say you haven’t lost it - you are still able to access it….just in another manner.

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    1. Cathy, he must be missing his computer while in Bowen. You don't sound terribly sympathetic.
      Over many years useful online and software things have disappeared and we just adjust. But let us briefly moan on.

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  10. I do the tablet and phone thing but somewhat reluctantly, like Pooh I'm a bear of little brain so struggle to learn new stuff but hats off to anyone who can.
    Alison in Wales x

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    1. Alison, I made a decision a couple of years ago to not learn new technology just because I thought it was interesting. There is only so much space in my brain and no need to clutter it up with knowledge I may never need to use.

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  11. I never think to catalogue or map where I go and when. I just wander around taking photos unless I forget the camera. I can use the phone camera but can't always get the photos to load onto the laptop. I haven't been out hardly at all this winter.

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    1. Generally I don't either River. But Google Maps history is always there to check.

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  12. I used my phone for the location as to where I've been with my photos. I take photos with the phone and camera so I know where the camera photos are taken.
    That's a problem then if they have changed that what you use, I would find it annoying.
    We use our phones for nearly everything and have done for a long time. I used laptop for blogger and watch TV in the evening time and have laptop on my knee. I have a tower computer which is fairly new but really don't need it, then have an iPad as well...too many really.

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    1. Margaret, you can use a latitude and longitude figure thing too for photos, but I have no real need to learn how to do that. I could manage with a laptop but I really don't need to. I can sit here typing away and keep my eye on the tv screen.

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  13. I prefer to see clearly what I'm doing so it's pc for me. If I was always out and about I suppose I'd gravitate to using 'phone apps.

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    1. JB, that is quite true about when being out and about as you can do so many things and check many things using apps. They are so helpful for public transport.

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  14. Now that I only go shopping or to the doctor with my car, I didn't even realize, anyway to me it was not interesting at all !

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    1. We all blog differently Gattina. For me it was a useful feature.

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  15. No idea why the change was made, the tracking is kind of handy at times.

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  16. I know that there is a way to sync my phone to the desktop and, to a degree they are. My desk top requires permission from my phone to access some sites. Aside from security purposes, I haven't really explored what they can do. I prefer the desktop because I am a wicked fast typer. Using a phone or a tablet slows me down.

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    1. Debby, yes I did once set up syncing the PC to my phone and tablet but it isn't now and I forget why. Like you, and I am much faster typing on a proper keyboard.

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  17. I didn't even realize Google Maps could track our travel history. Oh well -- I guess I won't miss the loss of that function! I still prefer the computer for most things, because of the bigger screen and the keyboard.

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    1. Steve, it's been a Maps feature for a long term. It defaulted to on, but I think maybe now you have to turn it on. Yes, screen and keyboard for me.

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  18. I'm not supposed to be using a lot of data since its my brothers phone and plan. I now and again use the maps app but it uses lots of data and battery. Other than I try out apps, then delete them, like I just put on a plant ID through photo app, which is fun. I have a translate app because I have fun with it. Other than that its a desktop not a laptop for me. Are you talking about the roller mouses on laptops, that are so unpredictable? I just use a usb plug in mouse on my desktop or a wifi one. Either way I"m always dropping them and they break apart and then I have to gather the parts and put them back together. My keyboard no long has any key markings left so my fingers have to have the memory to do it without me thinking.

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    1. Strayer, yes some apps are really great fun to play with. I can't use those roller things or touch pads on laptops. I don't know how anyone can. I guess practice. My keyboard and mouse are cordless and mostly work ok. I have to check the keyboard for less used things, like symbols.

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  19. I just use my phone as a phone and do everything on my desktop. A bit of a luddite here, Andrew.

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    1. Pat, a luddite is one who doesn't have any tech. You use what suits you best.

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  20. I was hacked once using my phone bank app and was told it was far riskier than the desktop which can confirm via phone code it is you. I'm like yourself, on PC as the phone is too small for my own working eye. I wear a magnifying glass for phone use. It's an effing morale I am let loose without a minder.
    XO
    WWW

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    1. WWW, that is of concern. I heard the opposite, so who knows but that was before two factor authentication become widely used.

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