Google announced today a new layer in Maps that provides critical information about COVID-19 cases in a given area. The goal of the new feature is to help users understand the COVID-19 situation before going to a certain place.
Starting this week, Maps users will be able to see color coding for areas with new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people on a seven-day average. There's also a label that indicates whether the number of cases is increasing or declining.
The data comes from various sources, including Johns Hopkins, the New York Times, and Wikipedia. These organizations, in turn, obtain their data from local and intergovernmental government organizations such as the World Health Organization, government health ministries, state and local health agencies, and hospitals. Most of these sources already provide information for Google Search's COVID case information.
Maps will display nationwide data across 220 countries and territories where the navigation app is available. Information on a city, state, province, or county level will also be visible where possible. The new layer will roll out on Android and iOS worldwide.
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