Facebook detailed the initiative in a news post this week. It said it has worked closely with organisations including UNICEF, the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the World Food Programme and others to develop the scheme.
Under its plans, Facebook will allow these charities and relief providers to access the wealth of data its platform creates when disaster strikes. There’s currently three different kinds of data available, each expressed as a map that helps workers to coordinate their response.
Location density maps enable relief helpers to visualise the changing locations of people in the disaster area. By collecting location information from users’ phones, Facebook can calculate where the population is moving to. This is compared with historical population datasets to determine if there’s a net movement out of the area, informing relief teams of where to head to next.
These are accompanied by more precise movement maps which can reveal the locations people are moving to over on a timescale of hours. By analysing the patterns that the maps present, organisations could determine the most hard-hit areas and choose to prioritise them for support. Facebook also said the data could help relief organisations to identify potential evacuation issues, such as an anticipated bottleneck on a major traffic route.
Facebook is also exposing access to data from its Safety Check feature. It will provide maps of where people are activating Safety Check, again offering more insight into the community’s condition. If there’s a notable absence of Safety Check confirmations in a major area, aid teams could be despatched there to check for survivors.
Facebook recognised that the data collection the project requires might not be welcomed by all users. It stressed that the system works on entirely “aggregated, de-identified” data that’s independent of individual Facebook profiles. The company said it’s intending to help with disaster recovery efforts by giving organisations the ability to look directly at how people are impacted by incidents.
“We believe that our platform is a valuable source of information that can help response organizations serve people more efficiently and effectively,” said Facebook. “Ultimately, we hope this data helps communities have the information they need to recover and rebuild if disaster strikes.”
Facebook is piloting the project now with its initial set of partner organisations. It said it will seek to expand access to the data over time but noted it’s looking to “responsibly” share the maps with organisations that are capable of effectively using them. It will be manually reviewing every application using “formal processes” that are yet to be established.
