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Ben Snaith

Using Location Data to Tackle Covid-19: A Primer | Institute for Global Change - 0 views

institute.global/...on-data-tackle-covid-19-primer

Data Coronavirus Mobility Contact-Tracing

shared by Ben Snaith on 09 Jul 20 - No Cached
  • Aggregated Location Data Analysis of aggregated location data can be used to identify hotspots of transmission and forecast future trends on transmission. This can help governments measure the efficacy of existing measures as well as guide government decision-making going forward, on subjects such as public-health interventions and where to allocate testing and medical resources. This kind of data will be particularly significant for governments as lockdowns are eased; it is essential that governments are able to gather real-time insights on the effectiveness of their interventions.
  • Medical experts currently believe that the virus is transmissible within 2 metres – meaning a person must come in contact within 2 metres of an infected person to have a chance of contracting it from social interactions. Therefore, effective digital contract tracing requires highly precise data. However, most extant technology was not designed to rapidly geolocate devices at that level of precision, meaning most location data is less precise than 2 metres. The ongoing challenge for technologists is to either adapt extant technology for a purpose for which it was not designed or build new solutions that can deliver the required level of precision.
  • ost notably, if the data used for generating location and mobility insights is weak (low precision and low accuracy), then the privacy implications may be less stark – but the value of the exercise also decreases. Both individual tracking and generating aggregated mobility insights based on weak location data can result in flawed insights. This can have a range of undesirable costs for both individuals and governments.
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  • Policymakers must be clear about the level of analysis they are seeking, and realistic about the capabilities of technology to achieve this. It is a challenge going from achieving high level location insights on a community level such as a building, neighbourhood or street to an individual level, and governments should be prepared to be told that current data infrastructure doesn’t support exactly what they are asking for. Focusing on community data is currently much easier than focusing on individual data. Issues around precision can be solved by 5G, but we don’t currently have that capability.
  • Governments must evaluate whether the trade-off they are asking citizens to make is commensurate with the value created. For example, if you are building individual contact tracing and the data is accurate within 1 kilometre, the value of the data is low, and the trade-off may not be worth it. They must also be straightforward with the public about the expected benefits and limitations of the technologies they are pursuing, and the trade-offs with other concerns in relation to privacy and data security.
  • Governments should work with partners, but they should do so by putting out clear calls for assistance to engage with the right level and type of expertise. So far, the engagement from many governments has happened on an ad-hoc basis, and partnerships between government and companies or researchers has happened as a result of partners approaching government first. Instead, governments must be clear about their objectives from the outset and put out a call for support from technical experts. Mobile operators can help governments analyse data on a community level; working with data can give some false conclusions, which mobile operators can help to address.
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