Workshop on Utilizing Mobile Positioning Data for Official Statistics

The rapid advancement of Big Data technology is opening up opportunities to modernize business processes in statistical activities, including the use of Mobile Positioning Data (MPD) for official statistics. This was highlighted by Erni Tri Astuti, Director of the Politeknik Statistika (Polstat) STIS, during the opening of the "Workshop on MPD Processing and Analytics for Official Statistics" held at the Shangri-La Hotel Jakarta on Monday (29/7).

MPD is generated by mobile network operators through the tracking of mobile phone locations. The MPD workshop, supported by Telkomsel and ESCAP, was organized by the Regional Hub on Big Data and Data Science for Asia and the Pacific, with Polstat STIS serving as the secretariat.

MPD consists of location data automatically stored by cellular operators each time a phone interacts with the mobile network, such as when making calls, sending or receiving messages, and accessing the internet. The fact that people tend to carry their phones everywhere offers a more accurate way to study population movements.

Key participants in the workshop included Rikke Munk Hansen, Chief of the Economic and Environment Statistics Section at ESCAP; Prof. Setia Pramana, Deputy Director of Polstat STIS (representing the Regional Hub); Alfian Manullang, Vice President of Data Solutions and Digital Financial Services at Telkomsel; and representatives from national statistical offices, including those from Kazakhstan, Cambodia, Timor Leste, Bangladesh, Malaysia, and Indonesia.

The workshop aimed to raise awareness of how to access MPD and explore the potential for MPD utilization in various countries.