Cuebiq's Mobility Index Analysis is a publicly accessible resource using Cuebiq's first party data to understand how population behaviors are evolving by day and by week during the COVID-19 epidemic. The heat maps show the level of movement within respective geographical areas. See below on ways to navigate the dashboard.

Table of Contents

• Cuebiq Mobility Index
• Shelter-in-Place
• Social Inequality
• Flows
• Contact Index
• Relocation Index
• Glossary
• FAQ
• Icon Legend  

Cuebiq Mobility Index

Cuebiq Mobility Index (CMI): A measure of the median distance traveled by all devices.

• The Cuebiq Mobility Index (CMI) quantifies how far users move each day. It is calculated using a derivative factor indicating the distance between opposite corners of a box drawn around the locations observed for users on each day. Using an index allows counties to be compared against one another even if users travel different distances on a normal day. The CMI for each state is the median of the aggregated movements of all users within a state.
• CMI values can be interpreted as:

5 - 100 km
4 - 10 km
3 - 1 km
2 - 100m
1 - 10m

A CMI of 2.5 for a state, would mean the median user in that county is traveling 316m.

 

The CMI YoY Variation represents the comparison of the CMI of the given day compared to the average CMI of the previous 365 days for the selected state(s). Note that the dashboard defaults to the national view. Negative variations are expressed by cold colors while positive variations are expressed by warm colors.

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Shelter-in-Place Analysis

The Shelter-in-Place Analysis represents the percentage of users staying at home in any given state/county. It is calculated daily by measuring how many users moved less than 330 feet from home. In the 100% stacked area chart we also provide the percentage of users traveling less than 1 mile, less than 10 miles and more than 10 miles. 

• @Home percentage: The percentage of users staying at home in the respective state/county
• YOY%: The percentage change in difference of users staying at home from the selected week, compared to the same week last year.

A positive percentage represents more users staying at home, while a negative percentage represents fewer users staying at home.

The Daily Trend graph represents the percentage trends overtime of users for each day of the selected state(s) who stay at home, or travel <1 mile, <10 miles or >10 miles. 

The dashboard defaults to the national view, reflecting historical stay at home trends in the bottom chart. The shades of purple on the map, represent the stay at home percentages of each state. The darker the shade of purple, the higher percentage of users staying at home. 

We identified the threshold to be used for the calculation in a data driven manner, observing the distribution of the distance from home on the daily mobility of our userbase: it is evident that the distribution is bimodal, the first peak (about 10 meters) is that of people staying at home while the second is related to people who move. 

The point where the curves separate is what we use as a threshold, and corresponds to 100 meters.

 

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Social Inequality Analysis 

Social Disparity: The CMI of the poorest 10% of Census Block Groups - the CMI of the wealthiest 10% of Census Block Groups.

Shelter in Place: the percentage of users staying at home based on the respective high income vs low income CBG. The low income vs higher income breakout is based on the CBG's (outlined below).

The Social Inequality methodology is as follows:

• Cuebiq uses the OMB (Office of Management and Budget) definition of CBSA (Core-Based Statistical Areas) to group together areas that are tightly linked to each other into a single labor market, including the urban core as well as the surrounding suburbs.
• Counties classified as rural by the US Census Bureau are excluded from the analysis due to low population density.
• Census Block Groups (CBG's) are geographical areas within CBSA's. CBG's are determined by the United States Census Bureau and are used to understand various types of demographic data within each CBG. For this Social Inequality analysis, the median income for each CBG was used.

For instance, the following would be interpreted as, that on June 7th, 2020 in the Washington, Arlington, Alexandria CBSA, users from wealthier CBG's had a 7 day rolling average CMI of 3.35 vs the lower income CBG of 3.56, resulting in a disparity of 0.24

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Flows

Total Flow: Arrival Rate + Departure Rate (deduplicated).

Arrival Rate: The ratio of users arriving to the county to total users seen in that county on that date.

Departure Rate: The ratio of users departing the county to total users seen in that county on that date.

Net Flow Rate: Arrival Rate - Departure Rate.

The total flow percentage represents the percentage of inter-county user movement. For instance, if we take the screenshot below after clicking into the Liberty-FL county, 43% of the users on 1.25.2021 seen within the Liberty county are either arriving or departing from the county. Therefore, the higher the percentage of flow, the higher amount of user mobility seen arriving or departing from the county. Additionally, the dashboard represents the top origin and destination locations of users in the respective county, as well as the historical total and new flow trends over time.

 

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Contact Index

Cuebiq's Contact Index provides a measurement of the number of people stopping in the same place in the same time. 

Contact Index (CCI): # of devices with contact / # devices seen

7-days Rolling Average Contact Index: CCI last 7 days / 7

Contact Index YoY: (7-days rolling average Contact Index - 7-days rolling average Contact Index previous year) / (7-days rolling average Contact Index previous year)

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Relocation Index

Cuebiq's Home Switcher analysis measures the trend of relocations over time compared to last year, depicting how the pandemic and resulting economic shifts have impacted residency across the U.S.

Cuebiq's calculation methodology for a user's home location is based on historical geo-behavioral patterns and is updated on a weekly basis. Cuebiq defines home location as the census block group where the user showed persistency during night hours above a defined threshold. Cuebiq assigns and stores only census block group level information about home location.

Selecting a View: There are different view options within the dashboard, allowing you to view different metrics. These options include:

• Balance: Measures a weekly basis total net relocation. Net Balance calculates the balance of the given week, while Net Balance Last Year calculates the balance of the same week from the year prior as a baseline comparison of how the pandemic has impacted relocation rates.
• Flows: The concept of Flows within the Relocation Index is identical to the calculations used in the Flows standalone dashboard. The Flows view in the Relocation Index dashboard only includes users who have recently relocated, while the Flows standalone dashboard analyzes all movements between counties, even of short duration.
• Social Inequality: Using CBG data (as outlined in the Social Inequality Analysis) the Social Inequality trends represents the relocation of users within the top 10 household income percentile and the lowest 10 household income percentile.

 

Balance Metrics:

% Home Switchers: Devices with a new home / total devices

Net Balance: (% incoming - % leaving) / Total Devices

Both Net Balance (cumulative) and Net Balance (cumulative) Last Year use the above calculation. 

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Glossary

Daily Trend: The mobility index by day. This chart defaults to the national level. If a specific county (or counties) are selected, this chart reflects the daily trends of the selected county (or counties). If multiple counties are selected, the daily trend chart changes to reflect the aggregate stats of the selected counties.

Weekly Average Index: The average daily index of the week selected.

Versus Previous Week: The percentage change in average daily index for the week chosen compared to the week prior.

Last Day: The mobility index from yesterday. 

Versus Previous Day: The percentage change in mobility index from yesterday compared to the day before.

Absolute Value: Displays mobility indices for the selected week.

Delta vs Year Avg: Displays the variance of the mobility index (day over day) compared to the average index of the previous year (the past 365 days starting from yesterday).

WoW % (Week over Week percentage): The percentage change in mobility index from the prior week compared to the current week.

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Navigating

Selecting a County: Click on the specific county to visualize the data. The mobility trend chart will reflect the trend of mobility for the selected county or counties. Click the county again to deselect.

Selecting Multiple Counties: While holding cmd (Mac) or shift (PC) select the multiple counties needed. You can also drag a shape on the map to select an area of counties OR select the specific state from the state filter to select counties within the selected state.

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FAQ

How often is the data in the dashboard updated?

Data for CMI, Shelter-In-Place, Social Inequality and Contact Index dashboards are two days delayed due to the time needed to properly process data for those days. The Mobility Flow and Relocation Index dashboards are updated weekly (each Monday for the previous week) as a week is needed to properly process the respective inbound/outbound data.

What data powers this dashboard?

The dashboard is powered by Cuebiq's first party data.

Why are there areas in the Social Disparity map that are not shaded?

Counties classified as rural by the US Census Bureau are excluded from the analysis due to low population density.

 

Icon Legend

	Search - Search for a specific state, county, or ZIP code
	Zoom In - Zoom in on the map
	Zoom Out - Zoom out on the map
	Selection Tools - Tools to assist with navigating the map
	Zoom Home - Revert to default zoom
	Share - Share options to send the dashboard link
	Download - Download the dashboard to an image, PDF or PowerPoint slides