User:Vincusb/sandbox/AMOD

AMOD

The AMOD, or Anonymised Movement Day, is a unit of the amount of data from mobile phone networks used in the creation of population mobility statistics. 1 AMOD represents the amount of information gathered from the movement of a single SIM card during a single day.

The AMOD unit was created by the Vodafone Foundation in 2015 to enable them to measure the scale of their Data Initiative, which aims to generate public benefit from mobile phone data.

Anonymisation

A single AMOD is not possible in practice, since the track of a single SIM card cannot be sufficiently anonymised. Instead, large multiples of AMODs are used – typically MegAMODs or GigAMODs. By de-identifying the raw Call Detail Records (CDRs) and aggregating these data at large scale, mobility statistics can be derived which are, in practice, anonymous.

GSMA Guidelines

In October 2014, the GSMA published a document containing guidelines on the protection of privacy in the use of mobile phone data for responding to the Ebola outbreak. This document provides a foundation to ensure that individual identification is not possible through aggregated, de-identified data that is used for public health benefit.

Strengths

The AMOD is a useful measure in that it provides the language for a sense of scale in the use of mobile phone data for population mobility analysis. It goes beyond a simplistic raw measure of data size (bytes) being used, which is practically meaningless since it is so dependent on factors which are irrelevant to the value of the analysis, such as the data format of call detail records.

Limitations

Measuring or stating AMODs does not give any insight into a programme’s ultimate impact, such as a decrease in disease rates or greater life expectancy. Whilst the unit enables clear definition of the scale of a programme, it says little about its impact without further measurement and evaluation.