Google Maps to Alert Users About COVID-19 Travel Restrictions

The transit alerts would be rolled out in Argentina, France, India, the United States and UK among other countries.

Image used for representation only.

(Photo: The Quint)

Google Maps will now help you plan your travel better by notifying you about COVID-19 related travel restrictions. A new update in the app will now allow users to check how crowded trains stations may be at a particular time or if buses on your route to work are running on time.

Google announced on Monday, 8 June, that it has been analysing location data of users from 131 countries to understand mobility under lockdown and help authorities asses if people are following social distancing.

According to a blog post by Google, the transit alerts would be rolled out in Argentina, France, India, Netherlands, the United States and United Kingdom, among other countries.

The new Google Maps feature will also include details on COVID-19 checkpoints and restriction on crossing state and national borders. This feature will only be available in Canada, Mexico and the United States.

Google Maps crowd predictions features also allow users to input data about their transit and the amount of people in any place. Users can use this feature by tapping on “Transit Details” on the app and then on crowd predictions.

The company’s crowdedness predictions feature that was introduced last year will now allow users to input information about their transit by going into the Transit Details on the app and tapping on crowdedness predictions.

In February, Google also added insights like temperature, accessibility, security onboard and designated women’s section for transit systems to the Maps app. These insights are being populated by riders who submit their experiences on the app for other users to know.