Story at a glance
- Many data companies are using GPS information to understand how people’s movements have changed since the outbreak of COVID-19.
- Apple, a major multinational technology company, is using its users’ location data to show the change in mobility trends across the world.
- The data shows changes in routing requests in different cities for driving, walking and public transit.
Apple users have been able to find their friends, but now even Android loyalists can use the company’s data to see how well their neighbors are social distancing.
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Apple’s mobility trend reports show the change in the volume of daily requests for driving, walking and public transit directions in Apple Maps since Jan. 13. The data is associated with random, rotating identifiers, according to Apple, so the company does not keep specific profiles of each user.
U.S. users have entered 45 percent fewer requests for directions since the beginning of the year, with most of the drop-off occurring in mid-March, when states began issuing stay at home orders. In comparison, requests originating from the United Kingdom dropped by 70 percent and requests from Italy dropped by 85 percent.
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You can look up your city on the Apple website to see specifics about the number of requests coming from your area to the company’s maps system.
This isn’t the first time Apple has used data from the more than 1 billion Apple devices available worldwide during the coronavirus pandemic. The company has also released a new screening tool and set of resources on the coronavirus pandemic in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the White House Coronavirus Task Force and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
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