
In response to the COVID-19 outbreak around the globe, the Israeli based Waze company has activated its community and network of partners across its Volunteer Communities, Waze for Cities programs, Ads clients, and more, to support crisis response.
According to Waze, their data shows that across the world, most countries have dramatically stopped driving. Globally, Waze users are driving 60% fewer miles compared to the February daily average for a two-week period (2/11/2020-2/25/2020).
“Despite the overall decrease in number of people on the road, there are still essential journeys that need to be made every day”, Waze officials explain, “We believe our data can help users plan their drives more effectively”.
The following steps have been made:
1. Waze Map Editors and Waze Crisis Response team are currently supporting 58 countries (and counting) with region-specific relief efforts including road closures, red zones, and more.
2. Waze has launched a COVID-19 Landing Page asking governments around the world to contribute data on medical testing center and emergency food distribution center locations to help improve our maps for users.
3. Waze has quickly rolled out support for drive-throughs and curbside pickup to help provide our users with minimal contact access to our partners products, such as food and other essentials, while remaining compliant with social distancing guidelines with new Location Personalities badges and search features.