Coronavirus: Google tracking shows how Australians’ behaviour has changed

Google is tracking Australian mobile users’ movements to profile where we are going and what we are doing during the pandemic — and the change is stark

People walking on the promenade near a BEACH CLOSED sign at Sydney’s Bronte Beach.

Google is tracking Australian mobile users’ movements to profile where we are going and what we are doing during the pandemic.

It says it is compiling users’ data into anonymised reports and publishing them online to help officials manage the pandemic.

A report for Australia, covering the period to March 29, says that based on user data recorded from smartphones, use of retail and recreation facilities is down 45 per cent in Australia from “the baseline”, which is the median value for the five weeks from January 3 to February 6.

Retail and recreational use includes users going to restaurants, cafes, shopping centres, theme parks, museums, libraries and movie theatres.

Use of grocery and pharmacy outlets is down by 19 per cent. This is people attending grocery markets, food warehouses, farmers markets, specialist food shops and pharmacies.

Use of national parks, public beaches, marinas, dog parks, plazas and public gardens in Australia is down 35 per cent, while use of public transport is down 58 per cent, as measured at transport hubs, bus and train stations. Google claims a drop of 33pc in people attending workplaces, while people staying at home has climbed 13 per cent.

The accuracy of some data looks questionable. A rise of 13pc in people at home looks small given the major migration of Australians to working from home.

Nevertheless Google says it is compiling these reports for 131 countries and regions. The Australian analysis can be found here and includes the above analysis state-by-state.

Google and Facebook reportedly had held talks with the US government on providing data on people’s phones about their movements to assist with managing the pandemic.

“What data is included in the calculation depends on user settings, connectivity, and whether it meets our privacy threshold,” Google says in the Australian report.

“If the privacy threshold isn’t met (when somewhere isn’t busy enough to ensure anonymity) we don’t show a change for the day.

“We include categories that are useful to social distancing efforts as well as access to essential services. We calculate these insights based on data from users who have opted-in to location history for their Google account, so the data represents a sample of our users.

“As with all samples, this may or may not represent the exact behaviour of a wider population.”

Google senior vice president Jen Fitzpatrick and chief health officer Karen DeSalvo in a blogpost dated April 3, say Google is now publishing what is an early release of its COVID-19 Mobility Reports to provide insights into what has changed in response to work from home, shelter in place, and other policies aimed at flattening the curve of the pandemic.

“These reports have been developed to be helpful while adhering to our stringent privacy protocols and policies,” they say.

“We’ll show trends over several weeks, with the most recent information representing 48-to-72 hours prior.

“While we display a percentage point increase or decrease in visits, we do not share the absolute number of visits. To protect people’s privacy, no personally identifiable information, like an individual’s location, contacts or movement, is made available at any point.

“Where possible we will also provide insights at the regional level.”

They say the information could help officials understand changes in essential trips that can shape recommendations on business hours or inform delivery service offerings.

“Persistent visits to transportation hubs might indicate the need to add additional buses or trains in order to allow people who need to travel room to spread out for social distancing.”

They say Google is also working with epidemiologists to better understand and forecast the pandemic.

“These are unprecedented times and we will continue to evaluate these reports as we get feedback from public health officials, civil society groups, local governments and the community at large.”

How Google obtains some information is unknown. For example, to understand the frequency that Australians shop for groceries would require Google to track users inside covered shopping centres to establish they are actually at a grocery outlet – Coles, Woolworths or Aldi.

This couldn’t be achieved by satellite tracking within indoor centres, but could be using the proximity of phones to indoor Wi-Fi hot spots, indoor trackers and transaction data.

Google has access to a wealth of user data. The Australian last year reported that Android phones transmit a constant stream of user data beyond that revealed publicly.