Microsoft Launches New Interactive COVID-19 Tracking Map

Microsoft just launched a new interactive COVID-19 tracking map to provide people with information on the spread of the virus. From the map, users can see the number of confirmed cases in each country. The number of cases is divided into the number of active cases, fatal cases, and recovered cases.

The cases in the US can be viewed as state-by-state. When users select an individual state or country, links to relevant videos and stories will pop up. Unfortunately, the story isn’t always useful and well-timed to help uses understand the current state of the pandemic.

Microsoft says that the data is collected from various sources which include the World Health Organization, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, and Wikipedia. However, it is stated how frequently the data is being updated.

Although the tool seems to be consistent in pulling the case numbers from sources, the COVID-19 tracker of Microsoft appears to be having trouble with relevant news stories. There are cases when users check new stories for the UK, the stories showed up were about how some home improvement stores were closed in Spain and France.

The lead video was from January 24th when UK hadn’t reported any confirmed case of COVID-19 yet despite the tracker showing 1,391 cases in the country.

Microsoft is not the only tech giant to provide information and data regarding the pandemic. Google has also said that it would launch a website providing COVID-19-related information. The company has launched a screening website which is only for those living in Santa and San Mateo Counties who think they are having COVID-19 symptoms. However, the site was overloaded overnight and couldn’t offer appointments for screenings.

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