Lungisani Malinga

 The giant search company Google set to update its free mapping service google maps with colour-coding that can track out Covid-19 affected areas.

Google mentioned on the blog on Thursday that this will also let users know whether the number of Covid-19 cases in a particular spot is trending up or down.

Maps product manager Sujoy Banerjee said the tool is meant to provide critical information regarding Covid-19 hot spots so that people can make more informed decisions about where to go and what to do.

It is said that tapping ‘COVID-19’new tab feature in a top corner of a screen will enhance maps using the latest 7-day average of cases per 100,000 people in areas being viewed.

According to Banerjee the data displayed in the new COVID-19 layer is collected from Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins hospital, the New York Times, and Wikipedia which are sources working closely with World Health Organisation and, government health ministries.

The California, US based company said the COVID layer rolls out this week worldwide in versions of the map app supporting any mobile devices powered by Apple or Google-backed Android software.

“While getting around is more complicated these days, our hope is that these Google Maps features will help you get where you need to be as safely and efficiently as possible,” Banerjee said.

Google maps had already successfully added a feature that help users know which places are more crowded when traveling around.

Picture: LOGO wine