Unlocking Earth AI’s planetary geospatial foundation models for global public health

Google researchers describe using the Population Dynamics Foundation Model (PDFM), part of Google Earth AI, to turn privacy-preserving search trends, mobility, built-environment and environmental data into monthly location embeddings that can be plugged into existing epidemiological models without task-specific fine-tuning. Independent partner evaluations across five public health challenges — MMR vaccination at the US–Canada border, US cardiovascular disease nowcasting, dengue forecasting in Mexico, postpartum depression risk prediction, and cholera emergence in the DRC — reported matched or improved performance over conventional inputs. The authors note current limitations such as static snapshots and say PDFM embeddings are available in Preview as Population Dynamics Insights, with no-cost access for select academic and public health research.