News from The Washington Post details how a team of researchers used a combination of Google Maps and radar imagery to track the movement of Russian troops.
Professor at the Middlebury Institute for International Studies in California, Dr. Jeffrey Lewis knew it wasn’t your typical car accident, especially when he noticed bad traffic at 3:15 am near the Ukrainian border. Lewis and his students discovered the “traffic jam” just before the start of the Russian invasion on February 23. They had to check Google Maps after seeing Russian tanks and other military vehicles near the same location in a radar image taken by Earth observation group Capella Space.
“In the old days, we used to rely on a reporter to show us what was going on in the field,” Lewis told The Post. “And today, you can open Google Maps and see people fleeing Kiev.”
Google Maps uses real-time data from smartphones to monitor traffic conditions. In a thread on Twitter, Lewis speculates that the heavy traffic that Google recorded most likely did not come from Russian soldiers carrying their phones, but rather from the phones of civilians stuck at barricades. After Russian troops began to enter Ukraine, The Post states that Google Maps shows closed roads and suspended subway services throughout the city in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city.
The Post says it’s unclear whether Google Maps provides SOS alerts (a notification alerting users who are near major crises) or the locations of bomb shelters to people in Ukraine. But Google Maps shows information about subway stations, some of which are used as shelters. Damian Menscher, security reliability engineer at Google, points out on Twitter that the use of Google Maps in Ukraine has increased since the beginning of the Russian occupation.
Google Maps seems to have become an unexpected tool for both civilians and soldiers on the ground in Ukraine and foreigners watching the devastating situation, and the Washington Post report really highlights this. Besides the prevalence of social media, people in Ukraine are able to deliver their stories to thousands, if not millions, from around the world, providing insights and information that outsiders typically have access to through traditional news sources.
In light of all these developments, it is also among the news that Google has stopped real-time traffic information for Ukraine. The aim is said to be to protect the safety of Ukrainian civilians.
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