Tracking data from millions of smartphones has helped Google put together a picture of the country's change in behaviour during the COVID-19 lockdown.
The UK and Ireland are both currently on lockdown in an effort to get the coronavirus outbreak under control, but what effect has it actually had on people's movement? Are people following the advice to stay at home and restrict travel to only the most essential activities? Google's tracking data says yes!
Practically everyone walks around with a smartphone in their pocket, most of which quietly track the owner's location to be used in everything from fitness apps to advertising. That location data has now taken on a new use during the COVID-19 pandemic, as Google has begun using it to analyse changes in user travel behaviour all across the world.
By combining location data with public map information, Google is able to estimate whether a user is spending time at home, work, a grocery store, or in a public place. The tech giant has just published detailed reports covering changes in this activity broken down into specific regions or cities, with some interesting results.
As of March 29th, the UK as a whole had seen an 85% drop in people visiting retail and recreation areas such as restaurants, cafes, shopping centers, and movie theaters. Grocery and pharmacy shopping across the country was rising ahead of the lockdown announcement, but ended with a net 46% drop compared to before the outbreak. There was also a drop of 55% in workplace mobility, 75% in public transport locations, and 52% in public parks.
Belfast's numbers tracked the UK average closely, with a slightly larger drop in workplace mobility (dropping by 60% compared to the UK average of 55%) and a higher residential mobility value (17% compared to the Uk average of 15%). The same set of stats has been published for other countries such as Ireland, with similar results.
Source: UK Google Mobility report
