15. Internet Connectivity during Crisis

15.1. Summary

Internet connectivity might change during a crisis. For example, the infrastructure that provides the internet can go out of service, totally or partially, or the people might migrate from the affected zone to a safer area, changing connection patterns. Passively collected data from applications running on mobile phones or local machines can be used to assess internet service during a crisis.

This notebook shows the methodology followed by the World Bank’s Data Lab to assess changes in internet connectivity during 2023 Türkiye earthquake and 2024 Rio Grande do Sul flood. To detect changes in network connectivity, two proprietary datasets were used - Meta’s Network Connectivity Maps during crisis and Ookla’s Speedtest Intelligence dataset.

15.2. Learning Objectives

15.2.1. Overall goals

The main goal of this class is to teach students how to assess access to internet connectivity during a crisis.

15.2.2. Specific goals

At the end of this notebook, you should have gained an understanding and appreciation of the following:

1. Meta Network Coverage Maps:

   • Understand the dataset and how it is generated.

   • Learn how the data can be analyzed and visualized.

2. Ookla Speedtest:

   • Learn about the data and its open-source and proprietary version.

   • Learn how the data can be analyzed and visualized.

15.3. Data

15.3.1. Meta Network Coverage Maps

Network Coverage Maps show where Facebook users have cellular connectivity at a 2G, 3G or 4G connection type through their mobile device. This is determined based on the types of cell sites that users connect to in order to update their Facebook app’s data, which causes data to be sent between a user’s device and the Facebook servers that host the app. In other words, this measures the estimated range, approximate coverage area and type of network connection based on the cell site IDs and locations that the users’ devices report. It is not based on data obtained from telecommunication services. Meta creates three types of Network Coverage Maps - Active Network Coverage, Network Coverage Undetected and Probability of Network Coverage. For the purpose of this case, the Network Coverage Undetected maps were used.

The Network Coverage Undetected map shows grid tiles for which there is no certainty of having network coverage on that date because no users’ devices reported connecting to cell sites there, but where there was observed coverage during the 30-day baseline period. The data is published at a Bing tile level 16. This is equivalent to roughly 600 meters on a side near the equator or the size of 2 city blocks.

15.3.2. Ookla Speedtest Connectivity

The Ookla Speedtest Connectivity dataset relies on user-generated speedtest information. Everytime a users conducts a speedtest on their laptop or mobile phone using fixed or broadband internet connections, it is recorded along with the latitude and longitude of the test, the ISP provider of the user. This data is then processed to generate indicators such as number of users who conducted the test, download speed, upload speed and latency.