APPLE, INC. said on Tuesday it would release data that could help inform public health authorities on whether people are driving less during lockdown orders to slow the spread of the new coronavirus.

The data is gathered by counting the number of routing requests from Apple Maps, which is installed on all iPhones, and comparing it with past usage to detect changes in the volume of people driving, walking or taking public transit around the world, Apple said.

The information is being updated daily and compared with a date in mid-January, before most US lockdown measures were in place, Apple said. More than 90% of Americans are under stay-at-home orders and various lockdowns are underway in other countries around the globe.

The data would be aggregated so that requests from individual users would not be shown, and it does not track individual users or their locations, the company said.

The information, available on a public website www.apple.com/covid19/mobility, will show changes for major cities and 63 countries or regions, Apple said.

Apple does not provide the absolute number of requests or a specific number of people moving, instead expressing the data as a percentage of requests compared with its mid-January baseline. — Reuters