Google to publish user location data

Google says it will publish users’ location data around the world from Friday to allow governments to gauge the effectiveness of social distancing measures, brought in to stem the COVID-19 pandemic.

The reports on users’ movements in 131 countries will be made available on a special website and will "chart movement trends over time by geography", according to a post on one of Google’s blogs.

Trends will display "a percentage point increase or decrease in visits" to locations like parks, shops, homes and places of work, not "the absolute number of visits," said the post, signed by Jen Fitzpatrick, who leads Google Maps, and the company’s chief health officer Karen DeSalvo.

For example, in France, visits to restaurants, cafes, shopping centres, museums or theme parks have plunged by 88 percent from their normal levels, the data showed. Local shops initially saw a jump of 40 percent when confinement measures where announced, before suffering a drop of 72 percent.

Office use is possibly stronger than suspected meanwhile, as the decline in that area is a more modest 56 percent. "We hope these reports will help support decisions about how to manage the COVID-19 pandemic," the Google execs said. "This information could help officials understand changes in essential trips that can shape recommendations on business hours or inform delivery service offerings."