QMIC Studies The Impact Of COVID-19 On Mobility Behavior In Qatar
May 17th 2020:
The Qatar Mobility Innovations Center (QMIC) launched its COVID-19 Mobility Analytics report which provides insight into movement and mobility behavior in Qatar since the beginning of the pandemic till the first week of May 2020. The report is based on the unique and rich traffic data bank produced by QMIC’s Advanced Traffic Monitoring & Analytics Platform (MasarakTM) which collects millions of data records on a daily basis about mobility behavior in Qatar,
Using mobility behavior during the 1st half of February as a baseline (i.e. before the COVID 19 Pandemic), the report focuses on a few key performance metrics that show how mobility behavior has changed on a weekly basis since the middle of February till the first week of May. These metrics include: weekly change in congestion level, weekly change in city outdoor activity, weekly change in number of car trips, and weekly change in trip activity to/from Hamad International Airport. Such data and metrics give an indication about public compliance with stay-at-home instructions and shed light into changes in social distancing behavior.
The key findings are as follows (see attached graphs for detailed week-by-week results):
- Weekly congestion level dropped significantly by 55-66% since late March, with biggest drop of 66% noticed in the first week of May.
- Weekly outdoor mobility activity dropped by about 45% in late March to late April, however level of activity increased in early May.
- Weekly number of car trips dropped by about 50% in late March to mid-April, however level of activity increased in late April and early May which coincides with Ramadan.
- Weekly trip activities to/from Hamad International Airport started to drop noticeably since early March reaching a steady weekly reduction of 80% since early April.
On this occasion, Dr. Adnan Abu-Dayya, the Executive Director (CEO) of QMIC commented by saying “For the last few weeks, our team has been busy into looking into how we can utilize our existing digital platforms and how to leverage our technology know-how to build new applications and services to support the national fight against COVID19. Today’s mobility report is an example of how our extensive traffic data bank can be used to track mobility behavior in Qatar which can be useful in aiding decision makers and planners in assessing compliance with national guidelines associated with COVID-19”.
For many years, QMIC has been utilizing its vast multi-source data collection network and mobility analytics platform to collect various metrics and inputs in order to analyze and draw important conclusions regarding mobility in Qatar. This data is in turn used to power a number of applications and services, including but not only the annual Qatar Traffic Report as well as monthly reports shared with QMIC’s key partners.
QMIC plans to update its mobility report on a weekly basis starting on the 2nd half of May in order to track weekly trends and changes in mobility behavior. Additionally, this data could serve as a rich and informative source for stakeholders and a valued tool for future and current planning purposes.
About QMIC:
The Qatar Mobility Innovations Center (QMIC) is the first independent innovations center in the region with a focus on developing and deploying Intelligent Mobility and Smart Cities platforms and solutions. QMIC’s main goal is to use locally engineered innovations and knowledge to create technology-based industries that address national strategies and grow with mega projects in Qatar and the region. It was founded by Qatar University in 2009 and is registered and licensed to operate from the Qatar Science and Technology Park.
Since 2009, and through its focus, on distributed sensing, data collection & management, services creation and delivery, QMIC is becoming a national leader in the area of Smart Cities and Internet of Things (IoT). In particular, QMIC has been leading in delivering IoT platforms and solutions in vertical domains including Intelligent Transport, Logistics & Telematics, Road Safety and Environment. Through its offices at the Qatar Science and Technology Park (QSTP), QMIC is working closely with key national partners and stakeholders to realize a market-focused innovations ecosystem in Qatar.
For further information please contact Mr. Abdulrahman Ajjawi
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +974 55645390, +974 4459 3694