Google Maps and Waze have shut down traffic data in Israel amid war

Ben Schoon | Oct 23 2023 - 7:56 am PT

As a result of the ongoing conflict in Israel and Gaza, Google Maps and Waze seem to have shut down traffic alerts and data as a safety precaution.

On October 7, conflict broke out in Gaza as Hamas, a terrorist organization, started an attack on Israel. In the time since the initial attack, a fierce war has continued to escalate, killing over 5,000.

Google has already responded to the situation, detailing its efforts to ensure employees in Israel are safe, that platforms such as YouTube are working to remove graphic content and disinformation, and the company has committed $8 million to relief efforts.

Now, Google Maps and Waze are taking a step to help protect local residents. Both Google Maps and Waze have, for the time being, disabled traffic alerts and data in parts of Israel. The change removes Google Maps’ live traffic data, and also turns off features in Waze. A pop-up in the Waze app specifically explains (translated):

Due to the security situation

Other drivers, traffic jams, traffic reports, and other alerts will not be displayed.

This change appears to be localized to the area around, as Waze is still functional in other parts of Israel such as Tel Aviv, but live traffic data in Google Maps appears to have been disabled country-wide.

Google confirmed to GeekTime (who also posted the above screenshots) that navigation features for the end user are not affected, and that traffic data is still used to determine routes and arrival times. The data is not visible in an effort to prevent that data from being used maliciously during the conflict.

The company also further confirmed to Bloomberg that this change was made at the request of the Israeli military “ahead of a potential ground invasion into Gaza.” A spokesperson explained:

As we have done previously in conflict situations and in response to the evolving situation in the region, we have temporarily disabled the ability to see live traffic conditions and busyness information out of consideration for the safety of local communities.

Notably, Israel is also deliberately disrupting GPS in war zones as Reuters reports.

During the start of Russia’s attack on Ukraine last year, Google also disabled live traffic data on Maps. Using the data, it was shown to be possible to track military convoys, which is data that could easily be misused in times of war.

Micah Toll contributed to this article.