This is the Google Maps feature I really want to see

Thanks to my extremely poor sense of direction, Google Maps is an essential travel app for me — for both short trips to different parts of the city, as well as longer routes that I have no chance of memorizing. I’ve come to love the traffic estimates, alternate route options, and the ability to avoid tolls.

But there’s a feature that I think Google Maps sorely needs: warning users of dangerous routes with high crime, with alternative routes suggested.

While I depend on Google Maps for my navigation needs, the app has taken me through dangerous routes on multiple occasions. I live in a country with high crime rates (South Africa), where you have to be on your guard more often than not. But in its efforts to give me the shortest route available, the app will often recommend that I go through areas with a lot of crime.

This happens the most on longer routes that involve highways. But I’ve also had it happen on 15-minute trips that take me into neighboring areas. The most memorable instance was when Google Maps diverted me off a main highway to take a road through an informal settlement that is considered one of the most dangerous places in my province. After I moved to my current suburb in Cape Town, my first trip to the airport went through another dangerous area — with road signs warning drivers about crime hotspots along the route.

I’ve adapted to this to some degree. I try to remember when to ignore Google Maps’ suggestion to turn at certain intersections or off-ramps. I tailored my route to my parents’ house to avoid a certain highway. But this doesn’t help when I’m on a route I’ve never traveled before. It also relies on my pre-existing knowledge of which routes are dangerous, which doesn’t help in areas I’m completely unfamiliar with.

Google Maps directing me through ill-advised routes is not a niche issue, which is why I think that it’s time Google started adding crime advisories and allowing users to skip dangerous routes. This would be particularly useful for tourists using the app in a foreign country, since they’re arguably more vulnerable.

In fact, in 2024, a couple sued Google after the Maps app sent them through a notoriously dangerous area. The couple were attacked while travelling from the Cape Town airport to their Airbnb. There were also other attacks on tourists that eventually led to Google removing the suggested route from Maps.

But blocking a route after multiple attacks only fixes the issue after the fact. By adding a feature that notes high crime areas, Google Maps could pre-emptively warn users that an area they’re traveling to or through could be dangerous. This would help tourists, but also residents of cities and countries with high crime.

Google Maps can recommend you the most fuel-efficient route based on your car engine type. When you navigate to an area, you can also choose to avoid tolls. The app also lets users share reviews for certain locations. So I don’t see why it couldn’t incorporate ways for you to avoid routes with high crime.

The changes Google Maps made to its route recommendations from Cape Town International Airport show that collaboration with local authorities is possible. But the move was also reflexive, removing a route that had been long-known for its danger. It also doesn’t seem to include the other crime hotspots around the route, just the most publicized one.

But there’s a ton of publicly available data that Google could use to tailor its route recommendations. It could even collaborate with companies to highlight any areas of concern.

It could also allow feedback from local users to report intersections and routes that pose a risk to travelers. You can currently submit road information such as whether a road is one-way, private, or closed in the app. So allowing users to note areas of concern is totally possible. Extending custom route support in Google Maps‘ mobile app could also help, along with recognizing your preferred route like Apple Maps.

Google Maps has plenty of great features, which is why I use it as my preferred navigation app. In fact, it saved me from getting lost in the Irish countryside last year when the rental car’s built-in GPS couldn’t locate where I was staying.

But crime is a pervasive problem for many people, especially in many tourist hotspots around the world. It’s about time that Google Maps adapted to this reality and made it a priority feature.