5 Cases in which Google Maps helped save lives

Sander Cokelaere, Saroo Brierley and Luo Gang are among the people who owe their lives to Google Maps. Thanks to the app, they were rescued or managed to be reunited with their family. These are stories so impactful that one of them was turned into a movie, even snapping up an Oscar.

We are certainly used to seeing our smartphone apps as something commonplace. However, maps can be crucial in extreme situations, achieving results that sometimes even rescue teams are not able to achieve.

O awesome.club below reveals some impactful cases in which Google Maps ended up saving lives.

Sander Cokelaere, a Belgian businessman, was kidnapped by one of the former employees of the company he worked for. The kidnapper decided to hold him hostage to ask for a large amount of money as a ransom, based on the fact that the former boss owed him.

However, the clever Sander managed to hide his phone and, while the criminal was distracted, sent bosses his location using Google Maps. Two hours later, the man was found, and the kidnapper was arrested.

Saroo Brierley, born in a locality in India, was lost when he was 5 years old, during a train trip. He didn’t know how to get home and he didn’t remember the way back. The only thing the then boy knew for sure was that, close to where he lived, there were two bridges. As an adult, he decided to use Google Maps to find the place. It didn’t take long for the boy to find the city and find his family.

Saroo’s story inspired the making of the film Lion, nominated and winner of many film awards around the world, including an Oscar.

More than two decades ago, Luo Gang, then only 5 years old, was going to kindergarten in Sichuan Province, China, when he was kidnapped. Criminals took him to a location more than 1,500 kilometers away.

The boy did not know the way back, but he remembered that his city was also close to two bridges. Years later, Luo found a webpage dedicated to promoting the reunion of missing children with their families. The young man decided to publish his story and, with the help of volunteers, discovered that a family in the city of Guang’an had lost a child 23 years earlier. So Gang used Google Maps to try to identify his old neighborhood. He found the two bridges he remembered and managed to make his way to his family home, where he was finally reunited.

Austin Bohanan, 18, didn’t warn anyone before heading out for a hike in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. By deviating from the usual trail and going deeper into the woods, the young man got lost. His cell phone ran out of signal, so the young man decided to turn it off. The following morning, the rescue team began the search, but without success. Austin ended up wandering around the reservation for 11 days before he decided to turn his cell phone back on. Despite the lack of a telephone signal, the GPS continued to work. The young man opened Google Maps and, thanks to it, found the exit to the park, where he was rescued.

Natalie Maltais, then 9 years old, was taken by her grandmother to spend a weekend at her house, under a shared custody agreement. However, the woman had no intention of returning her granddaughter to her legal guardians. That’s when the police decided to track the kidnapped woman with the help of the girl’s cell phone signal and the Google function that shows the streets of a certain city. With that, the authorities were able to find Natalie and return her to her relatives.