Mapy.cz: “We Want to Stop the Spread of Coronavirus, Help Us!”

Do you want to get notified if you were in contact with people who had been tested positive for coronavirus? A unique application is being developed in the Czech Republic within the COVID19 CZ project. It can trace the infection quite accurately.

The team of Mapy.cz has just released an update for the Android operating system, which wants to alert you to potential risky encounters through location sharing. “User location data will be anonymous and separate from other map features. Therefore, login in the application is not necessary,” says one of Mapy.cz developer, Martin Jeřábek.

To participate, it is sufficient for a user of Mapy.cz app to agree to share their location. “The updated app is available from Friday, March 20. The more people get involved, the more effective our efforts will be,” adds Jeřábek.

Developers are also working to obtain anonymous data about people who tested positive and compare it with the location of users. Advanced algorithms will then allow identifying cases of probable contacts with a positive infected person.

The app does not want to spread panic among people, so it only displays a notification to users. “We will always remind to consider, based on the information in the notification, whether the contact could have occurred or not. It is clear that this technology can’t be 100% accurate,” said Jeřábek.

Data will be stored exclusively for the entire duration of the application. “We will not share them with anyone and we will delete it from our servers after the pandemic is over,” Jeřábek pointed out.

You need to have mobile data turned on to send location sharing data. The application uses only a minimum amount of data (about 200 KB per day).