09-06-2020 Google Maps to alert users about travel restrictions related to COVID-19

According to the company’s blog post, the transit alerts will initially be rolled out in Argentina, France, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, India, Netherlands, the United States, and the United Kingdom, among other countries.

Users navigating to medical facilities or COVID-19 testing centers will also receive alerts reminding them of facility safety guidelines and to verify eligibility for testing to avoid being turned back.

In recent months, the company has analyzed location data from billions of Google users’ phones in 131 countries, to examine mobility under lockdowns and help health authorities assess if people were abiding with social-distancing and other orders issued to rein in the virus.

Google has invested billions of dollars from its search ads business to digitally map the world, drawing 1 billion users on average every month to its free navigation app.