Citizen travel data in Greece
After Google, Apple recently decided to share anonymous user location data with the authorities. The company plans to evaluate the measures taken in response to the coronavirus.
Location data provides governments with useful insights into the transportation patterns of their respective communities. Providing a basis for new measures in their decisions, this information shows changes in the volume of people driving, walking or taking public transport.
Apple claims that the app’s anonymous nature and lack of historical data is to protect people. That’s because, they would rather not have individuals whose whereabouts could be traced back. They also claim that they don’t keep any IP addresses or personal information on their users. Data used for this study was based on Apple Maps and while it doesn’t have the same volume as Google Maps, there is still consistency from the Google data.
Apple’s car-trip data for Greece shows an initial drop in March of this year, followed by a larger drop in the first half of March. April ushered in the first month with a very cold and icy weather. The weekday average for pedestrians was then -67%. From there it ranged between -65% and -70%, reaching -67% on 14 April. Walking trips took a few days to fall relative to car trips, about a fortnight in March, and by 14 April it was at -64%.
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Author: PC-GR
The World of Technology
