Google will be adding a new Covid-19 overlay on its navigation tool, Google Maps, the company announced on Wednesday.

“We’re introducing the Covid layer in Maps, a tool that shows critical information about Covid-19 cases in an area, so you can make more informed decisions about where to go and what to do,” Google said in a blog post.

Users will be able to see a ‘Covid-19 info’ button when they tap on the layers button located at the top right-hand corner of their screen when they open Google Maps.

They will then be able to see the Covid-19 overlay where Maps will display a seven-day average of new Covid-19 cases per one lakh people for the area the map users are looking at. There will also be a label indicating an increase/decrease in average cases.

Also read: Google’s Flood Forecasting Initiative now covers all of India, parts of Bangladesh

Google will colour-code the information for each area to “distinguish the density of new cases in an area”.

“Trending case data is visible at the country level for all 220 countries and territories that Google Maps supports, along with state or province, county, and city-level data where available,” Google said.

The data has been aggregated from multiple sources, including Johns Hopkins, the New York Times, and Wikipedia.

“These sources get data from public health organisations like the World Health Organisation, government health ministries, along with state and local health agencies and hospitals. Many of these sources already power Covid-19 case information in Search, and we’re now expanding this data to Google Maps,” Google said.

Google, last month, had also added various travel planning features to Google Search to help people travel safely amid the pandemic.

Also read: Google adds new Covid-19 related travel planning features

The Covid layer on Google Maps will be rolled out worldwide on Android and iOS starting this week.

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