Innovative response
A new feature on the travel app Maps.cz tells whether our movements overlapped with someone who tested positive for coronavirus.
During the nationwide quarantine in the Czech Republic, a private company Seznam.cz introduced an app to help stop the virus. The solution compares user's GPS coordinates history with location data of people who tested positively for COVID-19. The system is based on self-reporting. More than 1M volunteers have already given their consent to share their location. The app alerts users in case of high probability that their paths overlapped with someone infected by the coronavirus. App developers consulted algorithms used for probability calculation with epidemiologists.
More information: https://www.seznam.cz/zastav-covid/
Specific issues addressed and anticipated impact
Using the map is a way of bringing the community together. The wave of solidarity in the Czech Republic helps to deal better with crisis situation. The identity of positively tested people is not revealed, neither their current location is shared by the app.
Organisations/institutions involved
Seznam.cz
- Non-Profit/Civil Society
Issues being addressed:
- Real-time data collection, sharing, and analysis
Date Submitted:
5 May 2020