Density mapping of dating app users across time and space in Mumbai, India
Background: Dating apps make it easier and seemingly safer
for men who have sex with men (MSM) to find partners. How, then, can HIV
programs use available data to better align HIV outreach activities to the
specific times and locations of MSM dating app usage while maintaining safety
and privacy?
Methods: The USAID and PEPFAR-supported LINKAGES project
in India created density maps of location-based dating app users in Mumbai to
identify concentrations of users and enhance program coverage. Using ArcGIS
software, Mumbai was overlaid with a gridwork of latitude/longitude points each
two kilometers apart (374 points), and a second group of points at 1 kilometer
distance (410 total). Data collectors used Android phones and an app to set
their phone''s Global Positioning System (GPS) location for each of the plotted
coordinates, then opened Grindr to count the number of nearby online users. The
number of online users within one kilometer of each 2-kilometer separated point
was collected three times daily, over five days of one week in October 2017. The
process was repeated in December 2017 for online users within 500 meters of
each 1-kilometer separated point over 7 days. Excel''s 3D
maps plug-in generated short videos animating the changing density of Grindr
users across the week and area of Mumbai. These
activities never collected individual location data, and data are not granular
enough to target people in physical settings.
Results: An average of 3,810 online Grindr users were
counted across metropolitan Mumbai. The highest number of online users was
counted on midday Saturday and Sunday. On weekdays, counts increased later in
the day. The second mapping revealed high-density locations of dating app use including
several time-bound areas and 6 consistent areas with 23 or more online users within
500 meters of each coordinate (Figure 1).
Conclusions: This activity successfully identified physical clusters
of online MSM at specific times of dating app usage, and estimated total online
users in Mumbai. The LINKAGES program in India used these results to guide
outreach to MSM on Grindr at high density locations through peer- and
advertisement-based approaches that will be combined with location-specific referrals
for services.
[Figure 1: Density mapping in Mumbai compared - 1km radius sampling (left) versus more precise 500m radius sampling (right) showing clear high-density ]
B. Eveslage1, P. Shah2, C. Parker1, B. George3, J.J. Baishya4
1FHI 360, Washington, United States, 2FHI 360, LINKAGES, New Delhi, India, 3FHI 360, Country Director, New Delhi, India, 4USAID, New Delhi, India