GOPASS launches COVID travel safety platform

Microsoft has collaborated with GOPASS Global to build an AI-powered data analytics platform aimed at enabling safe international travel in the COVID era.

GOPASS Global has developed a pre-travel risk management platform on the Azure cloud capable of analysing and scoring COVID-related travel risk.

The platform compiles information from 35 different sources across 240 countries — spanning 3900 airports, 732 airlines, and 260 aircraft — into a data lake.

This information is used to provide continually updated information about COVID-19 infection rates and travel rules and regulations for countries and regions around the world. GOPASS algorithms then score and interpret the data and provide the insights either as a dashboard direct to the customer, or as an API so that the data can be integrated with a travel agent’s or corporate travel-software system.

The platform uses a range of Azure services such as Azure API Management, Azure Active Directory, Azure App Services, Azure Cosmos DB and Azure Databases for MySQL Flexible Server.

“Our platform takes a huge amount of fast-changing information into account to provide real-time risk scores for pretty much any proposed trip,” GOPASS CEO Mark Radford said.

“Corporations need to get their people back travelling, doing deals, building relationships, and they need to do it safely. We’re helping them do this easily and affordably. For leisure travellers, we remove the complexity of trawling through countless sources to check if it’s safe to go home, visit friends, or discover a new city.”

The platform has also been designed to support travel organisations in implementing the new travel risk management guidelines published by the International Standards Organisation (ISO).

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/Sergey Nivens