TripAdvisor has launched a handy tool that will help everyone when the world starts opening up again.

The online system, called Crowdfree.me, pinpoints busy areas for holidaymakers to avoid during the pandemic.

This focuses on public spaces – including parks, popular beaches and tourist hotspots.

It also highlights places like restaurants, coffee shops and public transport terminals.

The feature was created by nine tech companies and engineers from TripAdvisor, Slack and Amazon.

It works by updating how densely visited areas are every day – and weights the most recent information at the top.

Tourists can also get a visual idea of busyness by using the congestion feature, which is a heat map indicating how crowded areas are.

On the maps, areas with a lot of people in will show up in red.

Meanwhile, public spaces with a low density of visitors will be in white or light yellow shades.

At the time of writing, the device is still in its “Beta” form, which means it is undergoing testing.

You can still use the website in certain locations though – such as the USA.

When we had a play around with the Crowdfree.me features in New York, USA, we were able to see which areas were busiest.

Unsurprisingly, parks and playgrounds are some of the most densely visited areas during the pandemic.

But using the map, you can see which times are safest to stop off there.

Places where commuters go are also very busy.

For example, Grand Central Terminal is marked on red on the map and has a “high” Covid-19 risk assessment.

The busiest times to visit are 9am and 3pm but the density is much lower at 6am and 4pm.

So what do you make of the handy tool? Let us know in the comments section below.

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