Google Maps Will Let You Know About Coronavirus Restrictions Before You Leave Your Home (Video)

Google Maps will now alert users about restrictions, health checks, and service updates related to COVID-19 that could impact their travel plans.

If you’re using Google Maps to plan a trip across borders, an alert will appear both on the initial directions screen and later while in navigation mode about COVID-19 checkpoints or eligibility requirements along your route, a Google blog post published on Monday explained. Travelers will also be able to search how busy their transit station is, to plan their trip with social distancing in mind.

Google Maps users who use public transportation will receive information about how their transit systems are responding to COVID-19. Information about crowded stations or altered service will be available in 13 countries — including the U.S., UK, Mexico, India, France, and Spain — where local transit authorities are participating. Users can see historical trends of when stations tend to be busiest or look at live data to see how busy the station currently is, compared to its typical level.

Helpful information will also appear if you’re planning a trip to a COVID-19 testing center or medical facility. For instance, if a location will not see patients without an appointment, that will be noted in the app. Google intends this information to be used so users won’t be turned away or cause unnecessary additional strain on local healthcare systems.

Information about medical center requirements will be available in Indonesia, Israel, the Philippines, South Korea and the U.S. The feature should roll out to other countries over time.

The new features will be available in the latest update of Google Maps for both iOS and Android devices.

Google has helped along the way during the coronavirus pandemic by publishing data about how effective stay-at-home orders were in cities around the globe and releasing a coronavirus contact-tracing system that was developed with Apple.