Much of the world remains paralyzed by COVID-19. The number of infections continues to rise and each region tries to determine (without much success) when it will reach the peak of the curve. Add to that another difficulty: measuring the effectiveness of quarantine. While there will always be people who don't listen to reason, the need for solid data is enormous, and that's where Google with its "mobility reports" comes in, based on its (controversial?) location tracking system.
The lack of robust tools has been one of the main weak points in our fight against COVID-19, almost as much as masks and reagents. The activation of quarantines and the repeated requests for greater social distancing led the European Commission to begin negotiating with telecommunications providers to deliver anonymized location data. The goal is to analyze movement patterns, the effectiveness of containment measures, and the intensity of contacts that still remain, in an attempt to identify direct risks.
The people at Mountain View seem to have recognized this need, and today announced the publication of mobility reports focused on specific spaces such as markets, stores, pharmacies, parks, transit stations, offices, and of course, homes. Google indicates that certain regions will be left out of the reports because they do not have statistically significant levels of data, but the numbers show the same trend in almost all cases.
The Spanish report
For example, the report for Spain records a drop in mobility of 94 percent in retail and recreation, 76 percent in markets and pharmacies, 89 percent in parks, 88 percent in transit stations, and 64 percent in workplaces, while residential areas present an increase of 22 percent. The latest round of reports was updated on April 2, but the actual data is from 48-72 hours earlier.
Privacy and anonymization
Now, the million-dollar question: How is Google processing all this data? The official announcement explains that the company uses "the same anonymization methods" it applies in its products daily. The reports are based on the concept of differential privacy, which adds artificial noise to data packets, maintaining their quality and protecting the identity of the public at the same time. Google also reminds that all this depends on the "Location History" feature, which is supposed to be disabled by default.
Logically, criticisms were not long in coming. On one hand, there is the possibility that Mountain View's data may not be so accurate, and on the other, they accuse the company of mounting an advertising campaign. Either way, the documents are there (for a limited time), and if you're interested, don't hesitate to download a copy.
Official site and downloads: Click here
