UI Produces Mobility Map For Citizens During The COVID-19 Pandemic

Illustration (doc. Between)

JAKARTA - The Mahadata University of Indonesia (UI) Synergy Team for COVID-19 Response made a map of citizen mobility and the spread of COVID-19 in Indonesia. Access to this data can be used as input in policy making and control during a pandemic.

"This map aims to assess the community mobility index as well as the addition of daily COVID-19 cases in areas with or without PSBB, as well as semi-real-time geospatial mapping," said the Head Researcher Prof. Budi Wiweko was quoted as saying in the UI press release, Tuesday, November 10.

Deputy Director of Business Development and Innovation of the Indonesian Medical Education and Research Institute (IMERI), Faculty of Medicine, UI, said that the central and local governments could use the map to evaluate policies related to controlling community mobility and their effectiveness in reducing COVID-19 cases.

"Maps can also be a source of data in evaluating physical distancing strategies in reducing COVID-19 cases," he said.

The map of the mobility and distribution of COVID-19 by the Mahadata UI Synergy Team was created based on data from Facebook application users who allow their location history to be recorded, which is shared through the Facebook Data for Good program. The data is then aggregated anonymously so that the individual sharing the data cannot be traced.

"Apart from that, spatial smoothing and the addition of random noise are also applied to aggregated data to maintain data confidentiality," said the initiator of the mobility map and the Deputy Chair of the Research Team, dr. Susilaradeya resin.

The researcher from the IMERI Faculty of Medicine UI said the map provided data on changes in mobility and the percentage of residents' compliance to stay at home only. He said the mobility map also records the daily addition of COVID-19 cases at the provincial level based on data from KawalCovid.

The mobility map, among others, shows the mobility of residents during religious holidays and holidays. From the map, it can be seen that on October 29, 2020, during holidays and leave with the commemoration of the Prophet Muhammad's birthday, the obedience of residents to live in high houses in North Kalimantan, DKI Jakarta and West Sulawesi. Meanwhile, the level of compliance of residents staying at home in the Bangka Belitung Islands, Bali and Yogyakarta Special Region is low.

Damar emphasized the importance of good risk communication to reduce optimism bias and change the perception of obstacles in implementing health protocols to control COVID-19 transmission. In addition to community outreach to comply with health protocols.