Cuebiq’s new initiative helps researchers identify patterns to improve quality of life in underserved communities, during natural disasters and to develop smart cities
Press Release – New York – Leading location intelligence company Cuebiq has launched its Data for Good initiative, in which the company shares its anonymous location data with researchers at top universities and nonprofit organizations to drive innovation for causes such as improving quality of life in underserved communities, natural disaster response, and smart city development. MIT is among the first to join Cuebiq in its initiative.
MIT Media Lab Human Dynamics Group and Changing Places Group are using Cuebiq’s location data for multiple projects that apply big data and mobile location intelligence to identify areas of opportunity to help cities and their citizens. MIT Media Lab is applying Cuebiq’s high precision mobile location data on top of city data to identify and address pressing issues such as the impact of economic segregation on the development of neighborhoods and how certain establishments and businesses affect the nature and development of city areas. By studying in which places people of different economic and social backgrounds come together within a city, MIT Media Lab is able to understand which establishments and businesses are more effective than others in making a neighborhood less segregated and contribute to lowering social inequality.
“Data is transforming how we observe and understand our world. With all of today’s technology, vast scales of high quality data are readily available and can be analyzed to unlock new insights that can enhance and improve our way of life,” said MIT Professor Sandy Pentland, who also serves on the Board of Directors of the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data. “We are excited to be working with Cuebiq and using their rich location data to help unlock new findings that were not previously accessible to us.”
In addition to MIT, Cuebiq is also working with over 20 other universities and nonprofits globally as part of its Data for Good initiative. Among these is Ohio State University, which recently used Cuebiq’s location data in its effort to improve city planning and optimize transportation. University of Washington is also working with Cuebiq, using its location data for new research that aims to understand large-scale mobility patterns from before to during and after Hurricane Harvey.
Cuebiq is also working with companies like GasBuddy to help people identify gas station locations during times of natural disaster. The companies recently worked together to help those in Florida prepare for Hurricane Irma. Cuebiq provided GasBuddy hourly updates on dwell times at gas stations across Florida and neighboring states for the length of the emergency, which allowed GasBuddy to assess the wait times at specific locations.
Other initiatives currently underway for Data for Good involve medical planning, in which researchers are creating data models designed to track the spread of diseases.
“We are thrilled to be working alongside MIT and others in the scientific community for our Data for Good initiative. At Cuebiq, we are passionate about finding opportunities to use our knowledge and abilities to help others throughout the world,” said Antonio Tomarchio, CEO, Cuebiq. “Location data can be a powerful resource in many fields, and can provide incredible learnings. Our hope is that through this initiative, our data can help to spark ideas and test out initiatives to ensure efforts are meeting needs.”
About MIT Media Lab
The MIT Media Lab transcends known boundaries and disciplines by actively promoting a unique, antidisciplinary culture that emboldens unconventional mixing and matching of seemingly disparate research areas.
About Cuebiq
Cuebiq is a next generation location intelligence company, leveraging the largest database of accurate and precise location data in the U.S. Its leading data intelligence platform analyzes location patterns of 61 million monthly active U.S. smartphone users on over 180 mobile apps, allowing businesses to glean actionable insights about real-world consumer behaviors and trends. Cuebiq provides clients geo-behavioral audiences for cross-platform ad targeting, the industry’s only SaaS based real-time campaign optimization and footfall attribution tools, and offline location analytics. Cuebiq does not collect any personally identifiable information. Its privacy-sensitive methodology has earned the company membership status with the Network Advertising Initiative (NAI), the leading self-regulatory industry association dedicated to responsible data collection and its use for digital advertising. Cuebiq is headquartered in New York with offices in San Francisco, Chicago, Italy and China.
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