I work at the Rio de Janeiro City Hall’s Operations Center. It works in situations of emergencies and crises.
On the 10th of this month, heavy rains hit Rio de Janeiro. One of the occurrences was the collapse of a townhouse on Bento Lisboa Street. We didn’t have the house number, so we opened the Street View to look for the townhouses on that street and find out more details. We identified a Spiritist Center at number 23 on that street, which could be open and sheltering people, but on the location card at Google Maps there was no information about the meeting times. However, there was a photo with the information we were looking for, showing that at the time of the collapse, there was a scheduled meeting there.
The operations center warned the agencies to work on the possible rescue of at least twenty people. We were ready to act when we received confirmation that the collapse was at number 14, where there was no one.
See: https://oglobo.globo.com/rio/parte-de-sobrado-desaba-no-catete-em-noite-de-chuva-forte-24241469
On January 31, a woman was able to ask for help through Questions and Answers and was released from private prison.
Certainly she is a local guide, as she knows how to use the tool.
See: https://tecnoblog.net/323482/mulher-pede-ajuda-google-maps-libertada-carcere-privado/
In June 2019, we saw the Google Maps SOS Alerts feature become available.
Check:
https://www.blog.google/products/search/helping-people-crisis/
I brought situations like these because they motivate me and show how multiple are the uses of technological resources.
And also show how important it is to contribute so that quality information is updated on Google Maps.
