Google Maps now colour-codes your city so you can avoid high coronavirus areas
Users can see whether rates are rising or falling in their city, county, or country
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Google has added a new “COVID-19 info” filter to its Maps service that colour-codes areas to show the spread of the virus.
Users get a seven-day average of the number of new cases per 100,000 people in the area that they are looking at.
They also get a label that shows whether the number of cases is increasing or decreasing.
Google has rolled out this update for all countries and terroritories where Google Maps is available – a total of 220 areas altogether – and can be targeted to country, state, province, and city-level.
The app gathers its data from a variety of sources, including Johns Hopkins University, the New York Times, and Wikipedia.
These in turn get their information from from public health organizations including the World Health Organization, government health ministries, and local health agencies and hospitals.
The update will be rolling out worldwide on both iPhones and iPads, as well as Android devices.
Google has made a number of other updates to its Maps app because of the coronavirus.
The search giant introduced new street-level features to make it more accurate and easier for users to get around.
It also added public transport alerts when they search for directions, in the hope that it will stop overcrowding on trains or buses.
Apple recently released data from its Maps app to track whether people are complying with coronavirus lockdowns.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments