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When the pandemic began, technology companies like Apple, Google and Meta started anonymously gathering data on the movements of users around the world. The information would reveal whether people were generally complying with mandates to restrict their movement in a bid to contain the spread of SARS-CoV-2.

If accurate, the data could also serve to inform scientists and health authorities about transmission patterns, identify hotspots and potentially control outbreaks.

To test that theory, researchers at Dalhousie University collected mobility data from 2020 to 2022 from the three major tech companies, focusing on users' data in 58 countries. The data from Apple and Google are under public domain, while the data from Meta is private. A partnership between the company and Dalhousie University granted the researchers access to the data.

They found the three companies reported similar movement patterns at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, they found there was record low mobility and record high stay-in-home figures with all three companies during stay-at-home orders. They also found that higher movement patterns were directly associated with COVID-19 transmission.

The research, led by the principal investigator David Kelvin and his postdoctoral researcher Gustavo Sganzerla Martinez with the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, suggests that tracking is a powerful tool for public health authorities to understand transmission patterns during respiratory outbreaks and should gain attention as an important public health asset. The team is working to map the components necessary for the transmission of infectious diseases.

Dr. Kelvin and Dr. Sganzerla Martinez are available to discuss the findings, published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR) Public Health and Surveillance, and encourage companies to continue releasing mobility trends data, given that all three companies have ended these services.

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Media contact:

Alison Auld 
Senior Research Reporter 
Communications, Marketing and Creative Services 
Dalhousie University 
Cell: 1-902-220-0491 
Email: alison.auld@dal.ca