Anyone else is amazed with the current technology and a little creeped out by it?
This is old technology. For anyone wondering, you have a google maps timeline that shows exactly where you have been for the past few years down to the time that you take a bus
This is not new, this is old. This uses very basic metadata created from the beginning of time itself, maybe not time but definitely the internet
Google do this so your search result is relevant, especially when you ask it: Where ramen
I’d wager money that you also use gmail/outlook for personal mail, tik-tok, sign up for freemium services, etc. This is nothing in comparison to the amount of data harvesting that these companies do on you. As someone else pointed out, duck-duck go is a good start
To address your other comment, This isn’t based off cell tower triangulation. Google doesn’t have that kind of information.
It’s based off of two main factors
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Your IP - if you’re connected to a WiFi network without a VPN, you expose your IP to websites you visit. This IP contains information such as your general location (city), and internet service provider (and by extension, university)
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Your location - If you use Google services such as Google Maps or another app which utilizes the Google Maps infrastructure, Google may use this information to associate your Google Account or device to a certain location.
It seems that this current information is based on the latter, as the former would say “Based on your IP.”
You can disable Search localization in settings, or alternatively, switch to a different search engine such as DuckDuckGo or StartPage.
If you think that’s scary, you should see how many satellites see your devices at once. US, Russian, Japanese, Chinese, European. At UCSD I have 30 satellites that see my phone. Most Russian and US
Just finished a long run and my roommates texted let’s get some sushi and ramen for dinner. I pulled out my phone to do a quick google search for a restaurant and saw how precise google knows my location are.
I know it’s based on cell tower and triangulation but wow they know a lot. Also yes, I do usually uses a gps app to track my route and run time/distances 
Tbf everytime I log in to Duo it says I’m like 20 miles from campus so ¯_(ツ)_/¯
The government does a lot more than just store your locations.
You can turn the timeline off, this is even simpler than that. It just uses basic IP tracking which gives you the general city/area the request comes from
Gmail, yes. Tik Tok, nope.
Thanks for the info! I went ahead and disabled search localization. I do use google map a decent amount to navigate/drive. I’m terrible with directions when I drive.
I might look into a VPN for my phone.
satellites can’t see your phone. that’s not how GPS/GLONASS/other systems work. it’s a passively emitted signal and your phone does the math to calculate your location
Mind you, find my location with 7 metres (22 feet)
A whole city is realistically not that accurate. It’s close enough to give you relevant results, but not accurate enough to really do anything with
in your other comment, you said you used google to look up restaurants nearby, so disabling search localization will make that less helpful to you. google still knows your location, so you are inconveniencing yourself for a negligible improvement in privacy
30 satellites is a lot and a 7 meters accuracy is scary. Thanks for teaching me something new and interesting 
Eh, the less Googles knows about me the better. I’ll take that little improvement in privacy
Google will still know that information about you; it just won’t present it to you.
This is not actually true. If you turn it off, they are no longer legally allowed to collect it, which you’d be able to verify by downloading all your accounts data. Because of GDPR and the California equivalent they aren’t allowed to collect data you disable collection of
True…. One of my friend had a stalker in college and had to get police involved (not at raccoon university). She found an apple air tag on her car. So I’m a little paranoid with how easy my location can be tracked.
I do love the convenience of modern technologies but sometimes I do wish we rely less on them.