How does google know how busy a store is?
Asked by
JLeslie (
65743
)
January 8th, 2021
If I look up my supermarket, drug store, even Lowe’s, I can see the store near me and a bar graph that shows how busy it usually is during a specific time of day and if it is less or more busy than usually. How does google know?
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4 Answers
Google owns Android, which has a market share of about 85%. Since nearly everyone has a phone on them at all times, with GPS enabled by default, perhaps they are monitoring the position of everyone.
It comes from people who leave on Location History (and it is on by default) in their Google accounts and use Google apps on their phones.
I get Google Maps messages on my Android phone “You visited Meijer store. Can you answer a few questions? Do they have handicapped parkin?. Can you buy fresh flowers here? Are masks required?”
The location and time of visit they can collect without asking any questions,
As well as what route you took to get there, what speed you were driving (giving them real-time traffic information as shown on Google Maps), an estimate of how much walking or running you were doing when and where, etc etc.
Interesting. I hadn’t thought of all of these things you jellies just pointed out to me. Wow. Scary and good all at once.
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