If there is traffic on the way to your destination, you know how to find out. It turns out that the data could be dangerous in the wrong hands.
Vice reports that the live traffic data on the Maps app was temporarily disabled by the parent company. After consulting with Ukrainian officials, the company confirmed the move on Sunday.
Map apps can be used to help civilians navigate the roads, but they can also offer surprising insights to watchers. The fitness app Strava accidentally revealed the locations of secret military bases when it released data about its users.
Jerry Lewis, an open source intelligence expert and nuclear nonproliferation professor at Middlebury College, saw signs of the initial Russian invasion last Thursday when he looked at traffic jams on the Ukrainian border.
Lewis said that they were the first to see the invasion.
While Lewis used the data to witness the invasion of Ukraine in real time, he stressed that the data could also endanger the lives of civilians as well as the Ukrainian military.
Lewis said that big data companies don't want to face how useful their data can be. If the Russians were able to see an offensive from the Ukrainians, it would be less cool.
It makes sense that the service was temporarily cut off. It is a sobering example of how even the most banal technologies can have consequences.
Maps features in Ukraine were accidentally shown to Russia.
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