Google has disabled features in Google Maps that show live traffic data and how busy shops and businesses are. The company says it did so to protect the safety of local users as Ukraine suffers an invasion by neighboring Russia.
Google has temporarily disabled live traffic features offered by Google Maps in Ukraine to protect users’ safety as the country is invaded by neighboring Russia. The features use anonymous location data collected from Android smartphones to show where there are traffic delays on roads and which businesses and stores are busy. Experts say such data could offer insight into the progress of the invasion.
Location data collected by mapping services often offers these sorts of unexpected insights. For example, when fitness tracking app Strava released a map in 2017 of users’ activity, it accidentally revealed the location of several US military bases, showing where soldiers had been running laps around airfields. Similarly, Snapchat’s geolocation features have been used to collect images and videos from the frontline in the Iraq War.
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