Google Maps and Waze have disabled real-time traffic updates for areas in Israel and the Gaza Strip at the request of the Israeli army, just before an imminent ground invasion of Gaza, according to Bloomberg News.
a Google spokesperson said in a statement., 'As we have done in previous conflict situations and in response to the evolving situation in the region, we have temporarily disabled the ability to track live traffic and display data on traffic congestion out of consideration for the safety of local communities.'
Real-time traffic information can reveal details about troop movements or where crowds of people are gathering. The technology collects location data to show areas experiencing traffic delays.
Users of the Waze mapping application in the hot zones of Israel and Gaza are shown a message stating, 'Due to the security situation, driver traffic and congestion will not be displayed, along with other alerts.'
However, it appears that the Waze mapping application is still fully functional in certain areas of Israel, such as Tel Aviv, while live traffic data has been disabled in Google Maps throughout the country.
Despite this, users of Google Maps and Waze in the region will still be able to use the applications for navigation and receive estimated arrival times based on ground conditions, with the omission of specific details about traffic congestion on the maps.
Israeli media outlets have also reported that Apple has similarly disabled live traffic features.
Last year, Google disabled live traffic in Ukraine as a means to protect citizens when Russian forces began their military operations. During the early stages of the Ukraine conflict, civilians used Google Maps to observe Russian movements hours before President Vladimir Putin officially announced the start of the conflict.