Satellite navigation and travel apps Google Maps and Waze have suspended traffic alerts about congestion and jams due to the Israel-Hamas war. The real-time traffic congestion updates were halted yesterday. In addition Waze will not present the locations of other drivers, traffic reports and other alerts. The logic behind the move is not to allow access to data about locations where there is a high concentration of vehicles and to locate specific other drivers. This is a worldwide move and not just in Israel, so the data will not be available regardless of the country in which the apps are being used.
Google said, "As we have done previously in conflict situations and in response to the evolving situation in the region, we have temporarily disabled the ability to see live traffic conditions and busyness information out of consideration for the safety of local communities. Anyone navigating to a specific place will still get routes and ETAs that take current traffic conditions into account."
Last year Google disabled these same live traffic and location tools in Ukraine due to the war with Russia.
Google acquired Israeli app Waze in 2013 for $1 billion and in recent years has been gradually merging the activities of Waze into Google Maps, Globes reports.
