- Apple, Google, and Facebook are gathering data on people’s movement from smart device apps and using it to show where individuals have minimized their movement or reported coronavirus symptoms.
- The three tech giants have had access to this information for years, however are now releasing some of it in the form of reports on the spread of COVID-19
- Each company has published COVID-19 control panels with charts and tables on the virus.
Tech giants are joining the fight against coronavirus– and while doing so, they’re giving us an appearance under the hood at a few of the user data they’ve been tracking all along.
Facebook, Google, and Apple have actually all launched maps and control panels in current weeks powered by info from millions of users that demonstrate how COVID-19 is spreading out. Each visualization reflects the distinct type of information that each tech company is poised to collect from users.
Google and Apple both launched tools that show individuals’s mobility in particular locations and just how much it’s reduced in the middle of government-mandated shutdowns. In both cases, the business gleaned this information from individuals using Apple Maps and Google Maps, as well as place information from iPhone and Android users, respectively.
Facebook released a map demonstrating how many people are reporting COVID-19 symptoms in each county in the United States, collecting information by surveying countless Facebook users. Today, the company likewise launched a mobility dashboard that aggregates information on people’s motions from a corporation of personal business, along with public resources like satellite imagery and census information.
In all cases, the tech giants firmly insist that the data is anonymized and can’t be traced back to people. Privacy is also a central focus of upcoming contact-tracing tech from Apple and Google that would use Bluetooth to alert individuals who can be found in contact with COVID-19 without tracking their location.
Here are all of the COVID-19 maps, charts, and control panels from significant tech companies made from aggregated user information.
Apple has actually launched a mobility tracker that uses data from Apple Maps to demonstrate how much individuals’s motions have reduced.
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Source: Apple Mobility Trends Reports
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