Timeline.json Viewer: Open Your Google Timeline JSON File

When you export Google Maps Timeline, you get a JSON file: Timeline.json on Android or location-history.json on iPhone. It is plain text, but it is not readable as-is. This page shows how to open it as a map, and what the fields inside mean.

Open your timeline JSON file in three steps

1. Export it from your phone if you have not yet (see how to export Google Maps Timeline).
2. Go to the Timeline Visualizer and drag the JSON file onto the upload box, or click Select File.
3. Pick a date range. Visits appear as pins, trips as lines, with totals for places and distance.

Android Timeline.json format

The Android export is one JSON object with three top-level keys:

• semanticSegments: the timeline itself, one entry per visit, trip or path.
• rawSignals: raw position, Wi-Fi and activity readings recorded by the phone.
• userLocationProfile: places Google inferred as frequent, such as home and work.

A visit segment looks like this (values shortened):

{
  "startTime": "2025-05-03T10:21:04.999+09:00",
  "endTime": "2025-05-03T16:54:09.429+09:00",
  "visit": {
    "probability": 0.72,
    "topCandidate": {
      "placeId": "ChIJ...",
      "semanticType": "UNKNOWN",
      "placeLocation": { "latLng": "35.6586°, 139.7454°" }
    }
  }
}

A trip segment has activity instead, with start and end coordinates, distanceMeters and a topCandidate.type such as IN_PASSENGER_VEHICLE or WALKING. Coordinates are written as "lat°, lng°" strings.

iPhone location-history.json format

The iPhone export is a list rather than an object. Each entry has startTime and endTime plus one of visit, activity or timelinePath. Coordinates use the form "geo:37.375163,-122.046013", and numbers such as probability and distance are stored as strings.

Timeline JSON viewer options compared

If the viewer says the file is not a timeline

• Make sure you picked the .json file itself, not a ZIP that contains it.
• Files named Records.json or folders called Semantic Location History come from the old Google Takeout export, which this viewer does not read yet.
• If the file opened but the map is empty, widen the date range: it opens on the last 7 days of your file.