Buzz
Are people following the recommendation to stay home rather than commuting, running errands, or traveling? Several initiatives have aimed to track this, including Apple’s Mobility Trends, which is one of the most recent efforts.
Finding the right data set to answer this question is a challenge. For example, the New York Times published maps based on travel distance data collected from cellphones, but distances vary widely depending on the location. A trip that covers just two blocks in New York City could span 10 to 20 miles in a rural area. One map that shows ‘When average distance traveled first dropped below 2 miles’ highlights the southern regions in red, indicating more travel, while another map, comparing travel to average levels, shows more travel in rural areas and less in cities with early stay-at-home orders.
Apple’s tool, though limited to a few major US cities and some countries, takes a different approach. Rather than tracking how far or where people travel, it counts the number of requests made in the Apple Maps app. For example, how many people in the Bay Area asked Apple for driving directions today compared to a month ago? What about requests for walking or transit directions?
It's challenging to directly compare cities, but examining different regions can reveal how abruptly or early their activity levels dropped. In Italy, public transportation usage has stagnated, with walking and driving still remaining at relatively low levels. Meanwhile, New York City shows more dynamic trends, although still well below pre-pandemic figures.
For a different perspective, Google offers PDF reports detailing how much time users spend in various locations. (These PDFs are state-specific; this one is for California, for instance.) How much time do people allocate to grocery stores, retail outlets, parks, workplaces, and homes? Across all these areas, time spent has generally decreased, though some locations have seen sharper declines than others.
