Apple's new tool shows how lockdowns affect movement

Apple on Tuesday launched a new tool that shows how well people are following social distancing guidelines. It gathers anonymous data from Apple Maps and works similarly to what Google is doing to show trends from Google Maps.

You can plug in a city or a region and see a graph of how much people are moving in that area. It’s tailored specifically for health-care professionals and the government, so they can download information and see if people are staying indoors or are moving about more freely than recommended.

Apple said it generates the information for its new Covid-19 Mobility Tool by “counting the number of requests made to Apple Maps for directions.”