Location intelligence has found a new home in the Covid-era. Since last March, location data providers have applied their platforms to more altruistic ends such as informing the public on virus spread and impact. This was particularly useful in early stages when no one knew what was going on.
This was the focus of our Covid-Location Index series last year. The thought was that location data providers have unique insights about foot traffic patterns. Tracking behavioral shifts in and around local businesses can reveal important insights about Covid-impact, and how it differs across regions.
We now revive that series with new data from Foursquare. Working with Imperial College London, it found that people aged 20-49 are the most likely to contribute to virus transmission. If this is true, it’s a useful finding for the moving-target of epidemiological consensus and public policy.
“At Foursquare, we’ve been examining mobility trends throughout the pandemic to help businesses and communities understand impact and track recovery,” Foursquare data science manager Dan Hebert told Localogy. “Through this study, our data is not only helping illuminate what’s driving the spread of the virus – which is important from a research perspective – but also potentially helping to inform virus containment efforts and economic reopening strategies across the country.”
Foursquare Helps Quantify CV-19’s Impact on Local Commerce, Part V
Reproduction Rate
How did they figure all this out? Imperial College London’s Covid-19 response team analyzed aggregated foot traffic patterns using Foursquare’s data. This led it to discover that the 20-49 age group had reproduction numbers greater than 1… meaning additional infections (more details here).
This specifically involved a national-level, aggregate mobility dataset comprised of device data via Foursquare’s first-party panel. Evaluating the period from March through October 2020 it determined that 65 of 100 infections in the United States originate from the above age group.
Additional insights from the study include (verbatim from Foursquare):
— Resurgent COVID-19 epidemics in the U.S. in 2020 have been driven by adults aged 20-49, and in particular, adults aged 35-49, before and after school reopenings
— School reopenings have not resulted in substantial increases in COVID-19 attributable deaths
— Across the U.S. as a whole, the mobility trends indicate substantial initial declines in venue visits followed by a gradual increase starting in early April for all age groups.
Useful Integration
While we’re talking about Foursquare, it’s also worth mentioning that the company yesterday announced a new partnership with Data Cloud company Snowflake. This positions Foursquare’s Visits and Places data in Snowflake’s Data Marketplace, thus achieving additional software distribution.
One of the benefits is native integration, given that Snowflake customers can access Foursquare data within their preferred cloud environment. This should be a useful integration and growth driver for Foursquare as location data continues to be valued beyond advertising and marketing use cases.
This trend has been underway for a few years, as location intelligence is applied to everything from delivery logistics to hedge fund research. In fact, the above data from Foursquare and Imperial College London is a good example of the new forms that location intelligence continues to take.
