Israel continues to add layers to the popular Waze GPS application as it offers new services via the program. Ministry of Religious Services officials are building software to work in conjunction with Waze to notify motorists of nearby shuls and mikvaos.

Minister of Environmental Affairs Yair Peretz is expected to announce the new Waze notification system at a conference of mayors. The system was tested last month during a three-day sandstorm, alerting over 800,000 motorists in that area of severe air pollution.

The new notifications will alert drivers in an affected area of sandstorms, major fires, hazardous materials incidents and other occurences that may result in a significant increase in air pollution to permit motorists with respiratory ailments to seek alternate routes.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)