The Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) requested analyses from Swisscom to check whether the measures to protect against infections are being observed.
The analyses include data on mobility and crowds in public spaces.
The evaluations show that the Swiss population has significantly reduced its travel activities after the Federal Council banned gatherings of more than five people in public places on 25 March.
The authorities want information about whether the rules are being followed.
Data rules
The FOPH does not receive location data from Swisscom, only statistics and visualisations. The data on which the analyses and visualisations are based is anonymised and aggregated.
Swisscom says it is not possible to extract information about individuals, and that people retain control of their personal information, and the information provided will not be used for any other purpose.
Mobility Insights platform
Based on Swisscom’s Mobility Insights platform, the FOPH receives analyses of mobility and crowds in public spaces.
The platform and corresponding analyses have already been used in the Smart City environment, for example, in Montreux and Pully.
Initial evaluations show that since the ban on gatherings of more than five citizens, people have been travelling significantly less: at the end of March, travel activity, measured in kilometres travelled, fell by around 50% throughout Switzerland compared to a typical previous month.
The population in Ticino (pictured and see chart below) shows the clearest reduction in travel.
