The behavior of Bavaria and Munich has changed fundamentally as a result of the corona virus. New data from Google and Apple now show how fundamentally our lives are upside down.
- New diagrams show the violent changes in behavior in Bavaria caused by the corona virus *
- It is surprising how the Munich curve has been developing lately
- The Milan graphic shows what Munich has been spared so far
Munich - No visit to shops, no cinema, no meeting with friends - the Corona crisis has radically changed our lives. This perceived truth is now impressively confirmed by new data from Google and Apple for Bavaria, which the Ippen-Digital central editorial office has analyzed. Our diagrams show how historic the times are. And they demonstrate how extensively the mobility of people in Bavaria and Munich has changed within a very short time and which areas are particularly affected.
Munich people do not change their behavior a bit because of the Corona crisis, but fundamentally
Corona virus brings dramatic decline in Munich : Within just one week, the behavior of Munich has changed fundamentally. This is made clear by the new data on locomotion behavior. On the first day of the Bavarian exit restriction, on March 21, there was just a third of the usual mobility. This is measured here using navigation apps ; a detailed explanation can be found below in the text. These days, our graphic shows a coronary shock rigidity in Munich that is unparalleled. The truth is that the absence of tourists has led to less use of navigation apps in Munich. Incidentally, the outliers at the top of the graphic usually show the weekends on which people travel more often than on weekdays.
Even after the exit restriction was imposed, the Munich residents were still very cautious. And yet life is coming back in triple steps. Last weekend (April 26), mobility did not return to its old state by far - but at least two thirds of the comparison value. At Apple, however, this is apparently arbitrarily chosen in mid-January - a season in which outdoors is naturally less busy than in spring. So we are still a long way from normality in Coronavirus times. However, the question of whether this trend will continue with the first easing will be exciting in the future, as a current ZDF analysis from the city centers suggests.
Munich shuts down because of the corona virus - but Milan is hit harder
Milan shows what we have been spared so far : The Italians changed their behavior much earlier, and much more so than the Munich or New Yorkers. There was a drop of 90 percent in the use of navigation apps. Use in Milan also dropped significantly earlier and as early as February. At the latest when the Italian curfew began on March 10, the mobility of the Milanese through the corona virus was finally over. The dramatic slump in Milan is certainly also related to the fact that Italy and the Italian north were hit much earlier and much more violently by the coronavirus pandemic. Likewise, that there were and are still much stricter exit restrictions in Italy.
The Bavarians no longer go to the parks because of the corona virus
Even fresh air is no longer in demand: On March 21st, visits to parks and green spaces in Bavaria suddenly halve - and only within one day. This is shown by data from Google in our second diagram, which comes from Android phones and Google Maps . Exactly on the night of the rapid decline, the Bavarian exit restriction came into effect , which only allowed a good reason to leave the apartment due to the new corona virus. Another reason for the decline was the rainy weather that started at night. At the beginning of April, visits to the park normalized again. However, for all Google values, the respective weekday value of the first calendar week in January is used as a benchmark. Bavaria is currently a long way from the usual April values.
No time for entertainment and social life : the effects of the corona virus are even more severe in restaurants, cafés, cinemas, etc. than in the parks. Because while people in Bavaria gradually dared to go outside again sometime in April, people largely stay away due to the extensive closings of the catering trade. Since the Bavarian exit restriction, there has been a drop by an incredible two thirds. So what was left was above all the supermarket visits. The situation is similar with regard to the use of public transport , which has plummeted - as confirmed by the MVG in Munich. However, this does not mean that the people of Munich adhere to the minimum distance in S-Bahn & Co. at all times.
Dahoam is dahoam : Bayern have stayed at home much more often since the exit restriction. Be it to comply with the new corona rules. Be it because the children have to be looked after at home. Or because home office makes many movements unnecessary. Bayern are currently at home a quarter more - a value that was otherwise surprisingly constant over all working days in the past. In return, the time in which people in Bavaria were at work recently decreased. Even if you exclude special effects such as Good Friday from work , there are still 50 percent fewer people at work than usual . Important to know: The data generally show to what extent the frequency and length of stays have changed. Google decides where a park and a company exist, for example.
How the easing of the coronavirus measures will affect Bavaria
The next data will be exciting : As fundamental as the corona virus has changed our lives - the data show that at least some areas are slowly gaining ground again. But what effect will the easing have on April 27? How much does it change our lives when some pupils go back to school, when we visit smaller shops again, when we are allowed to meet at least one other contact person outside of our own household? Or if there is even a second wave of coronavirus? We will update this article and keep an eye on the corona virus data for you - for Bavaria, for example, in this interactive daily Corona Bavaria map *.
How we calculated the data (I): The movement data from Bavaria was provided by Google. Every Android smartphone and every Google Maps user sends movement data to the Google server when used and in the background. This also enables a largely reliable assignment of whether a user is in a park, for example. In the meantime, users have to actively consent to the storage of the location when creating an account. In exceptional cases, Google made this data available anonymously in order to be able to evaluate the situation during the time of the corona virus.
Even if 80 percent of the smartphones run on Android, there are restrictions in the data quality. On the one hand, the transmission of the movement information can also be deactivated. On the other hand, the assignment of the current GPS information to an exact location may not be completely correct - and is often better in large cities like Munich than in the country. Nevertheless, because of the extremely high population of users, we assume that the picture is very meaningful. (Tip: How to disable Android tracking and Google Maps tracking).
Coronavirus data says a lot, but not everything
How we calculated the data (II) : We evaluated the mobility behavior of Munich and other cities based on data from Apple. This is based on the use of Apple's navigation applications on foot, which has a focus on large cities. Specifically, it is recorded when a user wants to be navigated from location A to location B. It can be assumed that overall mobility has not dropped as much as the diagrams of Milan, Munich and Milan show. The usual walk to the supermarket or bakery will continue to happen. On the other hand, the mobility to unknown or rarely used places has dropped dramatically, which is often restricted by the current corona rules. Exactly these places are often controlled via the navigation app.
* merkur.de is part of the nationwide Ippen-Digital central editorial network.
