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I wonder if there's a local solution to this, store it out of Google's hands.

Course there is. Always is. How badly do you want it?

OwnTracks, Traccar, etc - lots more on F-Droid.

I’ve tried them, none really work as well as Google’s location history.

Meaning....UI/UX (how pretty and well-arranged the buttons are)?

Some specific feature? The data capture?

What's the actual issue?

Also: the proprietary version will usually be a step or two of "new features that may or may not be important" ahead of the FOSS offerings.