What you need to know
- Back in April, Apple made mobility data available to help combat COVID-19.
- Aggregated navigation data can show how much/less some forms of transport are being used.
- Apple has now expanded the data to cover all US states.
Apple has expanded its initial mobility trends data coverage to include all US states.
As reported by 9to5Mac:
Apple has vastly expanded the data available through its Apple Maps Mobility Trends Reports. Apple originally made this data available last month as a way to help health authorities mitigate the spread of COVID-19.When the tool was first made available, Apple touted that Mobility Trends Reports aggregated data from major cities and 63 counties or regions, but that has greatly expanded recently.As noted by Asymco's Horace Dediu on Twitter, Apple has added around 580 new sub-regions to the Apple Maps Mobility data collections. According to Dediu, all US states are represented in the data, as are 530 other providences.
Apple released its mobility trend data to "support the impactful work happening around the globe to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Apple noted that the data would be helpful to governments and health authorities, and could even help shape public policy, as it allows the measurement of usage of different modes of transport. The data is not connected to a user's Apple ID, nor does it have any connection to where a user has been. The data is aggregated and includes a number of factors, such as requests for directions.
According to Horace Dediu on Twitter, Apple's mobility trends now covers all US states and 530 other locations, all provinces. For the most part, Apple's mobility trends data has shown a substantial drop in the use of all methods of transport as people take heed of social distancing and stay-at-home measures. In the UK, the government has even used the data in its daily press briefings to the nation regarding the status of the pandemic in the country.
