Waze updates to support drivers amid pandemic

AS THE COMMUNITY QUARANTINE EASES UP IN THE METRO MANILA AND BEYOND, WAZE, THE COMMUNITY-DRIVEN NAVIGATION PLATFORM, IS WORKING CLOSELY WITH ITS CRISIS RESPONSE TEAM AND ITS VOLUNTEER MAP EDITORS TO KEEP DRIVERS SAFE GLOBALLY IN THE WAKE OF THE PANDEMIC. IN THE PHILIPPINES, WAZE REVEALS THE LATEST UPDATES WITH THESE NEW IN-APP FEATURES:

New notification

For the past few months, the “Luzon quarantine” notification appeared every 24 hours on the app to remind Luzon-based users of the ongoing enhanced community quarantine (ECQ). Since various areas have now relaxed the regulations to general community quarantine (GCQ), a “Drive only if necessary” notification would now appear on the app to remind users to “Stay safe and healthy. Follow local travel guidance and only drive if you must.”

Drive-thrus, curbside pickups

Users could now locate the nearest store offering drive-thru and/ or curbside pickups on the app. To support restaurants and other businesses, Waze began identifying places that allow drive-thrus and/or curbside pickups so that Wazers would know where they could safely get their essential items while avoiding as much contact as possible.

Covid-19 donation centers

As more Filipinos have been helping each other in the midst of the pandemic, Waze contributes by plotting donation centers on the map. Waze now allows users to search for the nearest donation drop off center by typing “Donation center drop- off” in the destination search bar. Wazers could also choose among the other drop-off centers found in the search results.

Updated reference laboratories

In April, Waze added Covid-19 Reference Laboratories to its map. Waze has successfully pinned 59 reference laboratories as of date and would continue to add more as they are made available by the Department of Health.

Covid-19 landing page

As part of Waze response and recovery efforts, Waze is making their Covid- 19 Impact Dashboard available externally so that governments, academics and the interested public could gain more insight into local driving trends. On this page, governments around the world could also contribute data on both medical testing center and emergency food distribution center locations to help improve Waze maps for users.