NO-VID 2020 :
Contact tracing w/o privacy breach
System Concept, March 2020
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NO-VID 2020 :
My Role:
Market research, Secondary research, Product Market fit
Solution Architect from both UX and technology sides
Concept development and Prototype creation
User guide creation for data extraction
Introduction
Introduction
The global pandemic surfaced in November 2019 and then spread rapidly throughout the world. All countries went into lockdown and began social distancing. Everyone was forced inside their homes, worried. Since it took about 14 days to develop any symptoms, Contact tracing was the only option for the governments to track the disease and control it. However, a few people started creating panic regarding governments trying to track the movements. and then came the issue of privacy. Despite the government of India launching apps to trace this contact, people were not forthcoming. Governments had to rely on the memory of the patients and hence, the system was suffering.
THE PROBLEM
THE PROBLEM
How to enable contact tracing to warn the citizens ahead of time...
without violating the privacy of their data!
How to enable contact tracing to warn the citizens ahead of time...
without violating the privacy of their data!
Google's tracking policy came to the rescue on this front. All the location data (if you have not explicitly cleared the history) is available as a JSON file for download. visit takeout.google.com from a chrome browser to access it.
It was essential to establish the availability of the data and hence, 193 techies were interviewed to understand if they have heard about it / used it. Following charts summarize their responses
THE SOLUTION
THE SOLUTION
Meet NOVID
Meet NOVID
Novid is an app designed to track, warn, map and inform. The idea is to use the data taken from positive patients only and published them anonymously to other people.
The data will be shared with the central database ONLY OF THE PATIENT IS TESTED POSITIVE. Others can only use this data to ascertain potential risks.
The data will remain within the users' phones and will be compared with the dangerous spots within the phone itself to generate warnings.
However the problem of fetching the data of those who are not in the system and do not have the app remained.
However the problem of fetching the data of those who are not in the system and do not have the app remained.
That was to be tackled with the google takeout solution.
The solution would require location history in the JSON format, which can be downloaded from Manage Google Account > Data and Personalisation > Download your data > Location history > JSON
It was established that most of the people who use google maps, will have their location data intact in the profile. If they are not using the app NOVID, then we can extract the data in this way. The system was going to use the same.
Idea was to capture the data whenever the patients are in the test facility to undergo a test. This will be done after taking the patient's consent. The data will be tagged and pushed to the system only if the patient tests positive
STEP 1:
Once the archive data is ready, we use it to plot an elaborate timeline, including the time spent at each location visited
We also make the timeframes bigger based on the virus survivability of 72 hours on cold surfaces (grocery) while 24 hours on room temperature surfaces.
*The timings were based on early virology studies published by WHO, for virus survival on various surfaces
STEP 2:
After the data is mapped, we use google maps as a reference point to establish the possible place of visits.
Early assessment of the virus revealed that for the virus to spread the patient needs to be in a single place for more than 15 minutes.
After that, we push the data every 6 hours to all the users of the application
STEP 3:
This data packet received by the app will compare the tracking data stored within the app and map it with the infection windows.
Depending upon the overlap, the users would be warned if they are safe, are at moderate risk, or at high risk.
The app will also start mapping potential threats in the neighborhood, and the likely timeframe to visit the establishment
With all the data collection problems solved, the app would be the best way for contact tracing.
This would keep the privacy intact for others who have not been tested positive and process the hotspots within their phones.
The system offers the data from those who are not on the app as well, making it the most comprehensive hotspot library.
The intent is to warn people as early as possible about the possible exposure, so that we can stop the disease from spreading
The app is enabled with location intelligence. This app can also trace if the patients who have been tested +ve are staying within the quarantine. A virtual geofence can virtually lock the patient in and inform the authorities to check on them.
The same app could be enforced upon the people visiting from out of the country. This will provide accurate location and travel data for the people who are supposed to be in quarantined. Also, if they test positive in the immigration test, the authorities can contact them.
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