DATASETS
Facebook Population During Crisis
Facebook Population During Crisis datasets show the number of Facebook users who have enabled Location Services and are observed in a location following a crisis compared to a pre-crisis baseline period.
Request Access
Key Features
Privacy-preserving
Privacy-preserving methods are used on these maps to ensure that the locations of individuals or small groups cannot be identified.Tile and administrative levels available
Facebook Population During Crisis datasets show sums of user counts over grid tiles as well as within administrative boundaries such as states, provinces, and counties.Disaster response
These datasets can help responders identify areas that are heavily impacted by a disaster, analyze how populations are reacting and where they are evacuating to, and make strategic decisions about how to position disaster response services or supplies.
Methodology
Step 1: Define region of interest
Based on where a crisis has taken place and where a safety check has been initiated, we define a bounding box around a disaster-affected area where we generate new metrics.Step 2: Aggregate Location Services data
We then combine information that shows a smoothed representation of how many Facebook app users with Location Services enabled are in each tile or administrative region for each time period and compare to a pre-crisis baseline.Step 3: Produce crisis-relevant metrics
We generate a series of crisis-relevant metrics in each tile or administrative area, including the percent change in population and the z-score, which shows whether the change in population for that area is statistically different from the baseline period.RESOURCES
Using Facebook Population During Crisis
Facebook Population During Crisis datasets are available to nonprofits and researchers who sign data sharing agreements.
Request access
RESOURCES