Giant traffic jams in Ukrainian cities. Kiev glows red on Google Maps

On Wednesday, Moto.pl informed that anyone can follow the movements of Russian troops on the border with Ukraine using Google Maps. It is enough to turn on the option of tracking the volume of traffic, and a simple analysis of this data shows on which border roads the traffic is unnaturally increased. Only a dozen or so hours later, Russia decided to invade Ukraine militarily on an unprecedented scale.

Google Maps shows gigantic traffic jams in Ukrainian cities

Now, Google Maps is showing live gigantic increases in traffic in many major Ukrainian cities. Huge traffic jams are mainly in Kiev and Kharkiv, which are the two largest cities of our eastern neighbor. In the remaining cases, traffic jams are much less visible.

Before 12 (Polish time) Google Maps indicated that delays caused by increased traffic in both cities amount to approx. 3 to 3.5 hours. Importantly, both in Kiev and in Kharkiv, almost exclusively westbound streets are blocked. This is clearly visible, for example, in the screenshot below from the service of the American giant.

Giant traffic jams in Ukrainian cities. Kiev is glowing red on Google Maps photo: screenshot from Google Maps

Increased road traffic is also visible in the vicinity of the third largest city in Ukraine – Odessa. Congestion is visible in the western and northern parts of the city and on the M15 route towards the border with Moldova.

How to read Russian troops traffic and congestion on Google Maps?

Google constantly updates traffic data almost all over the world. The service algorithms collect information, including from Android smartphones or other devices that use Google services and analyze their location. For Google, a large number of users traveling on roads at low speeds is a sign that the road is congested.

Reading this data on Google Maps is very simple. Just select the “Traffic flow” option in Maps, and individual streets will be highlighted with colors – from green, through orange and red, to maroon. In addition, in many places, Google also shows how long the delays are on a given route and which roads are closed. This information is mainly based on reports from users of the service.