Google declared shortly after the crisis between Russia and Ukraine began that it will disable traffic and crowd data on Google Maps because the information could be used against huge gatherings of Ukrainian residents fleeing the violence. Google has now confirmed that Air Strike warnings will be added as well.
According to reports, the Ukrainian government has asked Google to include the latest functionality in Google Play Services. Ukraine already has a raid alarm system in place, and the new function will help it reach even more people.
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Google claims that the feature will be available right away.
In an official blog post, Kent Walker, Google’s President of Global Affairs, wrote:
Millions of people in Ukraine are now relying on airstrike warnings to get to safety. We’ve begun rolling out a quick Air Raid Alerts system for Android phones in Ukraine, at the request and with the assistance of the Ukrainian government. This effort is a supplement to the country’s existing air raid alert systems, and it is based on alerts that the Ukrainian government has already sent out.
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Dave Burke, Google’s VP of Engineering, claimed that the corporation used the same low-latency method to detect earthquakes.
During the crisis, Google has already discontinued most of its services in Russia, including Google AdWords and many of its commercial activities, such as payment features, YouTube monetization, and so on. Numerous Russian state-sponsored stations were also removed from the company’s platforms.