In a surprise new move, Google has just announced that they are launching a new Personal Analytics service today, which will use all the data that is being tracked on each individual to produce personal reports on places visited, travel movements, eating habits and other behaviour and moods.
With the ubiquity of smartphones and the increasing use of ‘home assistants’, a huge amount of data can be collected by Google and other organisations, and so now Google has decided to make this information available to each individual in a similar format to Google Analytics, with a range of reports to show personal information and trend data over time.
Users have to set up a new Personal Analytics account with their existing Google Account login to access these reports and prove that the information being shown relates to them. Privacy campaigners may have deep concerns about the depth of information being collected, but the new Personal Analytics service is just reporting on what is already available, and bringing the data more into the open for users to see summaries of their lives.
The type of reports contained will show locations visited, time spent in different places, the type of location visited – including food and drink outlets – plus mode of transport used, as well as comparative benchmark data on other people depicting similar lifestyles and movement patterns. In addition, voice data that is collected will also supplement this information with known or inferred behaviours and preferences.
It is reported that Android phones collect more information for Google than Apple products, but there is still a wide range of data available on all individuals who have smartphones, including real time reports which is similar to location tracking of devices. Google’s Home Assistant is also now collecting a lot of information based on activities around the device.
As devices and apps become more sophisticated, it’s likely that even greater depths of information on each person will be collected, and the new Personal Analytics account will no doubt reflect this and report on personal information to a level unprecedented in the online world.
If you’d like to know more, please get in touch, although due to a confidentiality agreement with Google, we can only discuss this product today.