# Analysing Urban Traffic Patterns with Neural Networks and COVID-19 Response Data
## 3 Methodology and Data
### Data Used in the Study
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c} \hline \hline
**Variable Name** & **Characteristics** \\ \hline cars\_in & Number of vehicles of the type cars in the direction to the city centre (direction in) \\ \hline vans\_in & Number of vehicles of the type vans in the direction to the city centre (direction in) \\ \hline trucks\_in & Number of vehicles of the type trucks in the direction to the city centre (direction in) \\ \hline unknown\_in & Number of vehicles of the type unknown in the direction to the city centre (direction in) \\ \hline cars\_out & Number of vehicles of the type cars in the direction from the city centre (direction out) \\ \hline vans\_out & Number of vehicles of the type vans in the direction from the city centre (direction out) \\ \hline truck\_out & Number of vehicles of the type trucks in the direction from the city centre (direction out) \\ \hline unknown\_out & Number of vehicles of the type unknown in the direction from the city centre (direction out) \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 2: Target variables. Figure 4: Types of vehicles detected by the sensors. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c} \hline \hline
**Variable Name** & **Variable Description** & **Values** \\ \hline date & Date & 6 June 2021–5 August 2022 \\ \hline time & Time given in 15-min intervals & from 0:00 to 23:45 in 15-min intervals, recoded into values 1–96 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 3: Input variables used in the study. In Table 3, several variables are mentioned that we used to describe the situation during the COVID-19 pandemic in Slovakia. These variables are internationally published on the COVID-19 Government Response Tracker website [48], which seeks to quantify the pandemic situation and the anti-pandemic measures implemented by various countries worldwide using multiple indicators. This project has tracked anti-pandemic measures since 1 January 2020, in more than 180 countries worldwide. In total, 21 indicators are calculated, representing the scale of the implemented measures. These indicators were published until the end of the year 2022. In the study, we used the values of these indices for the entire Slovakia, as it is impossible to obtain values for smaller territorial units. The indicators can be categorised into four primary groups:  
* Restrictions and closures: These indicators capture data on policies related to restrictions and closures, including school shutdowns and movement limitations. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c} \hline \hline
* Economic policies: These indicators document economic measures, such as income support for citizens and the provision of foreign aid. * Healthcare system: This indicator tracks initiatives within the healthcare sector, such as COVID-19 testing protocols, emergency healthcare investments, and vaccination strategies. * Vaccination policies: These indicators record details on vaccination policies, including the country's priority list, eligible groups for vaccination, individual vaccination costs, and the presence of a vaccination mandate. For simplification, four main indices were created, cumulating various government measures. These indices range from 0 to 100 and seek to quantify the number and degree of measures adopted. The effectiveness of these measures is not evaluated. Since the onset of vaccination, these indices also consider how anti-pandemic measures differ between vaccinated and unvaccinated populations. The indices are defined as follows:  
* _Overall government response index_: This index tracks the evolution of the government's response across all indicators in the database, reflecting changes in intensity during the pandemic. It is derived from all ordinal indicators. * _Containment and health index_: This index merges restrictions and lockdowns with measures such as testing, contact tracing policies, short-term healthcare investments, and vaccine investments. It uses all common indicators of containment, closure policies, and healthcare system policies.