Protest tracker: Here’s how to use Google Maps’ new tool

A Google My Maps user created a riot tracker tool to keep South Africans safe as protests and looting continue in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng

Google Map’s Riots/Looting tool

The Riots/Looting map was created using Google My Maps, and has filters on the left bar to show both recent and past incidents, as well as points of interest in both Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal.

On Wednesday, incidents were reported at Capitec in Marolung Mall, on Albertina Sisulu Roads, Watt Avenue, at Maponya Mall, Tshwane Mall, Diepkloof Square and more.

Points of interest in Gauteng include Naledi Mall, Cosmo City Multipurpose Centre, Northgate Shopping Centre, Makro Distribution Centre, Mall of Africa, Hillbrow Clinic, and the Thelle Mogoerane Regional Hospital.

KZN and Gauteng residents are urged to avoid no-go and hotspot areas.

If you have the Google Maps app installed on your phone, simply CLICK HERE – the map will automatically open in the app.

You can get an overview of the latest hotspots by clicking the icon in the top left corner of the map below.

Website users: Use your mouse wheel or the Plus/Minus icons in the bottom left to zoom in and out.

Unrest tracker

There’s also an Unrest tracker to keep track of three types of incidents: Violence, Looting and Unrest.

The team behind the tracker built it by collecting the latest reports from social media. The map was unfortunately unavailable at the time of publishing.

The developers said the map’s aim is to “provide a high-level overview of the unrest” to keep citizens safe while also “facilitating future learning from this very difficult period”.

“As of 14 July 2021, 197 incidents had been identified, as shown below. To find out more about the types of incidents listed, rest your mouse cursor over the various sections in the graph”.

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