Google Maps temporarily disabled its live traffic features in Ukraine in an effort to protect users’ safety amid Russia’s invasion within the country.
After consulting with local authorities, Google chose to make tools that provide information related to traffic conditions unavailable, including how congested a road is or how busy a store might be.
Navigation information, however, was not inhibited, a spokesperson told Reuters.
California Middlebury Institute Professor Jeffrey Lewis said he saw a “traffic jam” inside Google Maps Thursday that likely related to the Russian’s movement toward the Ukrainian border.
According @googlemaps, there is a “traffic jam” at 3:15 in the morning on the road from Belgorod, Russia to the Ukrainian border. It starts *exactly* where we saw a Russian formation of armor and IFV/APCs show up yesterday.
Someone’s on the move. pic.twitter.com/BYyc5YZsWL— Dr. Jeffrey Lewis (@ArmsControlWonk) February 24, 2022
“I think we were the first people to see the invasion,” Lewis told Motherboard last week. “And we saw it in a traffic app.”
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One report suggested that the data was likely coming from civilians stopping at roadblocks rather than from soldiers using their phones.
“I think big data companies often don’t want to face squarely how useful their data can be,” Lewis said. “I mean, it’s cool when we do it, right? It’s maybe less cool if the Russians were able to do something similar to, you know, spotting an offensive from Ukrainians.”
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Researchers have tapped online services and social media sites to aid in piecing together information and activity connected to the war.
