I think it’s a nice feature, when it’s explicitly opt-in, and gives you control over what it’s doing. We all know how Google handles that

This is one of those features that I'd love if it wasn't controlled by an evil organization.

And all that data probably takes up less room than a few pictures, could easily be stored locally, and encrypted locally before backing up on a server. But why give individuals control and privacy over their own behavior and history when you can sell it to anyone and keep the profits for yourself? /s

You can use “Google Takeout” to download all location data. It has all coordinates and what you were doing (e.g. walking, driving) with timestamps.