You can search for people's locations on Google Maps: What the hell were they thinking?

[Bob_McMillan]

https://sg.news.yahoo.com/creepy-stalking-or-error--where-does-google-maps-think-you-are-032724418.html

Now that is even creepier than the bears.

I just tried it now and my school showed up... I thought that this was a bit funny but not anymore. How the hell did they even get that? I was sure my Facebook privacy settings didn't allow anyone outside of my friends to see my information. I tried searching for my family, and while they weren't completely accurate, they were all near places they frequent.

Jesus, I hope this was just an error, because if they thought that this was a good idea then the Google Glasses probably have laserbeams.

 

[sky14kemea]

I think this is one of things that depends how unique your name is? I searched both my old one and my current one and the former thought I was in Manchester (No where near). The second had trouble because of the name "Sky" and tried to direct me to the HQ of Sky TV.

It does seem strange how close it can be for a few others in the article and yourself though...

 

[Pirate Of PC Master race]

Neat!

it seems like it is somehow related to Google+ though.

Interesting.

I have to note that I don't use google+ and not getting my name as a result, and my name is somewhat unique.

P.S: I am unsure as why people are even concerned with this. People broadcast where they are at all times.

 

[Queen Michael]

Huh. It placed me at the library and at the geek bookstore, depending on which first name I used.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

Neat!

it seems like it is somehow related to Google+ though.

Interesting.

I have to note that I don't use google+ and not getting my name as a result, and my name is somewhat unique.

P.S: I am unsure as why people are even concerned with this. People broadcast where they are at all times.

How about the rest of us who don't feel the need to inform 1000 people what color their underwear is? My entire family is pretty conscious about online privacy, my parents actually made us wait until we were 13 before they allowed us to make an account.

Anyways, it probably doesn't have anything to with Google+. My Google+ was made only for posting on Youtube. I never actually entered any info into the account.

I think this is one of things that depends how unique your name is? I searched both my old one and my current one and the former thought I was in Manchester (No where near). The second had trouble because of the name "Sky" and tried to direct me to the HQ of Sky TV.

It does seem strange how close it can be for a few others in the article and yourself though...

My name is fairly unique, it has an "ñ". But that only makes it worse, as I searched myself without the ñ.

When I searched my name on Facebook, there were dozens of people with a similar name, some who spelled their names without the ñ.

 

[Pirate Of PC Master race]

[
How about the rest of us who don't feel the need to inform 1000 people what color their underwear is? My entire family is pretty conscious about online privacy, my parents actually made us wait until we were 13 before they allowed us to make an account.

Anyways, it probably doesn't have anything to with Google+. My Google+ was made only for posting on Youtube. I never actually entered any info into the account.

Thank you for the info. That eliminates many possibilities.

What else then can it be? It is evident that we gave google SOME info crumb that lead us to our general location.
Smart phone geotracking(which you have to turn off manually)?
Google account IP being backtracked?

Whatever it is used for or how it works, it is probably more important to discuss why this "feature" is included in the Google maps in the first place. Someone would pay top dollars to use such feature.

 

[sky14kemea]

My name is fairly unique, it has an "ñ". But that only makes it worse, as I searched myself without the ñ.

When I searched my name on Facebook, there were dozens of people with a similar name, some who spelled their names without the ñ.

I think the more unique your name, the easier it'll be to narrow down those search results. Mine is apparently more common than I thought, so I'm hard to find.

If you're really worried, you may want to try and find a way to contact google about it. I can understand people not wanting their general location broadcast just by googling their names. I'm nervous enough about putting my birthday on websites.

 

[Barbas]

It put me by the beautiful blue Danube. There are worse places to be than Austria.

 

[Kopikatsu]

I'm the only person in the world with my name (Have checked this multiple times). So putting my name in came up with my high school. Which is weird because I haven't been in high school for a really long time. Guess that means I'm good at not leaving a trail? Hn.

Edit: Well, it's possible that GoogleMaps registers your location via cookies and so when you put a name in it just cross references it with your location to keep it accurate.

 

[teqrevisited]

Creepy as shit, but I tried my name and nothing relevant came up. I keep a small footprint as far as personal details go.

It's strange how people share information so freely and are then shocked when they see how easy it is to find more.

 

[JoJo]

Weird, apparently I'm at the Tolpuddle Martyrs museum, not too far from my real location but I've never actually been there. A further google reveals that in-fact it's put me there as a nearby piece of land was owned in Victorian times by someone with the same name as me, I suppose it's algorithm assumed that me and him were the same person.

 

[flying_whimsy]

I'm the only person in the world with my name (Have checked this multiple times). So putting my name in came up with my high school. Which is weird because I haven't been in highschool for a really long time. Guess that means I'm good at not leaving a trail? Hn.

To my knowledge I'm also the only person in the world with my name, and fortunately google maps can't find me (normal google shows hardly anything for me, too). I'm thinking it's linked to cell phones, so either google phones or maybe the maps app for people that don't turn off location and use their real names for email and app logins.

Still, the whole thing is really creepy. Google's been getting sketchy about how much it wants to track people in real time over the last decade.

 

[TakerFoxx]

Apparently I am dead and buried in a funeral home in Ohio.

That, or I work there.

Neither of which are correct, fortunately.

 

[Aerosteam]

There's a park in England called "Jacob Smith Park". That's the closest it's gotten.

 

[Boris Goodenough]

Apparently I am dead and buried in a funeral home in Ohio.

That, or I work there.

Neither of which are correct, fortunately.

I don't know man, if you had internet connection from beyond the grave I would like you to hook me up when I get there!

 

[Tayh]

Apparently I'm at the Philippine Embassy in the United Arab Emirates.
Which is pretty damn far off Denmark, and also pretty luls.

I don't think this is something people need to worry about.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

Google keeps trying to change my last name. Thanks, Google. Nice to be acknowledged at least. Otherwise i'm Lloyds insurance firm in Washington, America. Yup, nothing to fear at all....waaaiiiiit... I just entered my name and email into google maps! Is this a new sly data collection trick?!

 

[Sleepy Sol]

Well, it didn't get my location exactly (it's about 70-100 miles off), but that's still kind of terrifyingly creepy.

 

[KyuubiNoKitsune-Hime]

Well depending on using my given or my gender selected names I'm either a Dentist or a weather report for a town that bears my family name in the Souther states of the USA. That's pretty funny actually. In my way extended family(all the branches of a huge old American family) I share my name with quite a few people, and most of them are women/girls.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Good thing there is an American guy with the same name as my who is in Universirt of Maryland, Batlimore. Suck to be him if he ever entered his name on Google map!