
In the near future, Google Maps will no longer direct users through townships such as Nyanga in the Western Cape, following a series of incidents in which tourists and people without knowledge of Cape Town were directed into the dangerous area by GPS apps and subsequently attacked.
Currently, only one intersection on the edge of Nyanga near the Cape Town International Airport will be avoided as this has been the main scene of these incidents, said Alistair Mokoena, Country Director for Google South Africa, in an interview on Cape Talk.
This initiative is part of an agreement between the internet conglomerate and South Africa’s Tourism Ministry that aims to “promote South Africa as a safe tourist destination.”
Known crime hotspots
According to Mokoena, Google only looks at avoiding a certain route if it has been deemed a known crime hotspot by the authorities, regardless of whether it is situated in a township, industrial, or residential area.
After a certain number of recurring incidents in a geographical area, the authorities will now approach Google as part of the new agreement and ask the company whether it can find a way to sidestep the region on the Maps platform.
As such, in addition to establishing the type of road and whether it is fit for the user’s vehicle, Google must now account for whether there are any crime hotspots on the user’s desired route.
“So, the conversations we are having now is safety is becoming a real issue, and is there a way of sticking to alternatives to this particular route,” said Mokoena.
“We’ve been working with the engineering team to ensure that the routes that we do surface, if not the most direct or the most convenient or the quickest, we need to think about is there a danger element, and if the authorities deemed there is and they communicated as such, we take the lead from there.”
In total, there are approximately 58 areas around the country that have been classified as crime hotspots by the various authorities that Google Maps may look at avoiding in the future.
“Our responsibility to society is to help people avoid danger and if we can do it by recommending three routes instead of two routes, we will do that,” said Mokoena.
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