Mobiles continue to serve data on the location of Spaniards in the midst of a health crisis. In addition to the already known study on 40 million devices, called DataCOVID and carried out in collaboration with all major operators, the Ministry of Transport has explained that in parallel it also knows the positioning of around 13 million lines with the aim of analyzing mobility .

The Secretary General of Transport, María José Rallo, has exposed this Tuesday a new ramification of the use of the data of the Spanish during the state of alarm. Spaniards move less (for example, on Good Friday 31.5 million citizens did not move more than 500 meters). However, the data apparently has a long way to go.

According to sources from EL MUNDO, the mobility study has been carried out by the big data company Kineo, based on data from a single operator, Orange, which had reached an agreement with the Government to configure this tool. As they explain from the competent ministry, the operator has not charged for it, although the other company, dedicated to big data and lacking all the resources of the teleco of French origin.

The Secretary of State for Digitization and Artificial Intelligence of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, headed by Carme Artigas, has also participated in the project. Rallo has ensured that the data is anonymized, in compliance with current legislation.

Identification prohibited

This type of information, with the location of the Spanish, therefore requires that there be no identification of the subjects studied, as EL MUNDO was recently reminded by the Spanish Data Protection Agency (AEPD). Of course, during an alarm state like the current one, it is possible that the health data is registered by the competent authorities through health applications and web pages, provided that the user has voluntarily accessed and accepted the conditions. The analysis carried out for Transportes is not part of these exceptions.

This new study analyzes all the trips of more than half a kilometer that have taken place in Spain during the state of alarm, although it covers the period from February 14 to 20 to establish the relevant comparisons and will also review the weeks after confinement, as expected the methodology sheet available on the Ministry's website.

An agreement dating back to 2018

The origin of this study dates back to the Interprovincial Mobility Study of Travelers applying Big Data Technology carried out by the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda in 2018 . Then, a Temporary Union of Companies (UTE) of Orange and Kineo got the award. This time, the hiring has been carried out without the corresponding contest , an express procedure allowed during this extraordinary situation.

In 2018, the Ministry was forced to clarify the economic implications of the agreement: "Development did not buy mobile phone data from users, but rather a work carried out with inter-provincial mobility data using big data technology." In other words, there was a disbursement by the Executive, but not for the data but for their analysis. This time it would have happened the same, although Orange has preferred to collaborate without remuneration.

Another study of Spanish mobiles

This is not the first study of mobile location announced during the state of alarm. This same month it was announced that the Secretary of State for Digitization had promoted, in collaboration with the National Statistics Institute (INE), a mobility study on population displacement, in this case with the collaboration of all the major operators telecommunications (Telefónica and Vodafone, in addition to Orange).

DataCOVID, that other initiative, began with a pilot in the Valencian Community and is developed through position data from a sample of 40 million mobile phones throughout Spain.

Among the latest studies of this type, the one carried out from November 18 to 21, 2019, an analysis led by the INE and in which all the major operators in the Spanish market also participated, stands out.

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  • INE
  • Spain
  • Telefónica
  • Valencian Community

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