Google shuts down live traffic reports from Ukraine

Google’s Maps service can be used to track traffic flows live. In the Ukraine war, this previously meant that troop movements were also registered via the service and could be easily tracked. Google has now decided to disable the service.

Decision made in coordination with Ukrainian authorities

Google Group Alphabet announced that the decision to deactivate the live services was made in coordination with Ukrainian authorities. The company said the temporary shutdown was motivated by a desire to protect Ukraine’s population.

Previously, the Washington Post and researcher Jeffrey Lewis reported that both troop and flight movements can be tracked via Google Maps. Lewis stated, for example, that a traffic jam reported by Maps at 3:15 a.m. on a road from Belgorod, Russia, to the Ukrainian border indirectly suggested troop movements: he assumed that civilians were massed in roadblocks there, which in turn meant presence by military vehicles that were given priority to pass through the roads. In the Washington Post, Lewis further drew attention to the fact that Google Maps had rendered features of the earlier war coverage obsolete: Escape movements from the Ukrainian capital of Kiev could be easily tracked using traffic data.

In addition to live traffic data, the display of crowds in Ukraine was also shut down, as this data, too, if publicly available to all, could jeopardize the safety of people in the country. Both the gathering and traffic displays are created using GPS data that Google collects via Android smartphones. Anyone carrying one automatically transmits their movement data to Google. Larger gatherings of smartphones can thus be analyzed, as can mass standing along traffic routes.

Use of Maps skyrocketed

However, the other features of the Maps service remain usable in Ukraine – and are being used briskly. Google pointed out that the use of Maps in the country had jumped with the start of the Russian invasion. The map service is apparently being used to plan escape routes. The increase in Maps usage was accompanied by a significant drop in the use of the Docs service, which is popular primarily in a professional context.