At the beginning of the month, we saw that Google started to test the possibility of inserting an overlay layer to Maps to indicate the data about the new coronavirus in some specific areas.
Now, after a few weeks of testing, the search giant is finally going to start releasing the novelty to its end-users in various locations around the world. In all, there will be 220 countries to count on the update of Maps that inserts this information.
The novelty will indicate figures such as the growth of confirmed cases of COVID-19 separated by states, counties, or cities, if available in this way. This overlapping layer will show, in a colorful way, the areas with new cases of confirmation of the new coronavirus every 100,000 inhabitants during a period of seven days. In addition, you will also have an indicator that will show whether confirmation numbers have grown or decreased in the region.
As seen earlier, this data will be collected from research centers, such as the Johns Hopkins, the New York Times, and Wikipedia, which in turn collect information from government institutions or health organizations, such as WHO, for example.
The update will begin to reach app users on Android and iOS over the next week. However, despite having said that it will reach 220 countries, it is not known what those locations will be, or at least if Brazil is included.
Google Maps may add layer overlay to maps with data about COVID-19
During the month of August, Google Maps gained several relevant updates that further improved the visualization of maps in the application. In one of them, the search giant began to implement more details about the vegetation and the presence of mountains and reliefs in each region. In addition, the app started to issue alerts about fires and risk areas in the United States.
Now, it looks like the Moutain View company is testing new functionality on its maps. According to Jane Manchun Wong – who is already known for predicting other application updates before their launches – Google allegedly tests to insert a layer overlaid on the map that will show relevant information about COVID-19.
https://twitter.com/wongmjane/status/1301816488777494529
Based on the images, it is possible to see some details about the new coronavirus in each region. Among the information, present are data on the outbreak of the disease in the states. In addition, it is also possible to see whether there has been an increase or decrease in the number of cases at each location. However, it is not quite certain whether it will be possible to detail the numbers for specific cities.
Another important piece of information is that, apparently, the data is searched on several sites, such as Wikipedia, The New York Times, Johns Hopkins University, and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.
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So far there is no information as to whether this resource will be available to the final public. But if it does, it can be accessed in the same way that traffic data and Street View information are accessed.
[appbox googleplay com.google.android.apps.maps]
Source: xda-developers