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Title:

Mobile Phone Data as an Alternative Data Source for Travel Behavior Studies

Accession Number:

01517441

Record Type:

Component

Availability:

Transportation Research Board Business Office

500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001 United States

Abstract:

Mobile phone positioning data sets contain spatio-temporal positions of millions of mobile phone users. While their application in recent human behavior studies has seen great success, it remains to be explored by the travel behavior research community. In this study, the authors discuss the potential of mobile phone positioning data as an alternative data source for travel behavior studies. The authors are particularly interested in their potential for analyses in travel behavior dynamics. Analyses in travel behavior dynamics rely on multi-day travel data. Multi-day travel diary and Global Positioning System (GPS) tracking are two primary approaches for multi-day travel data collection. Yet, both approaches are limited in several aspects. The authors discuss the relative advantages of mobile positioning over travel diary/GPS tracking as an alternative data collection technique. As an example, a real-world mobile phone positioning data set is applied to examine the variability in individuals’ activity location choices. Results demonstrate the ability of mobile phone positioning data in capturing temporal dynamics in individuals’ spatial behaviors. The authors conclude that mobile phone positioning data are a promising data source for travel behavior study. There are, however, caveats. The authors discuss potential issues with this type of data as well as their implications when used for travel behavior studies. In addition, the authors review recent studies producing novel insights into human mobility with mobile phone positioning data from other disciplines in the hope that more travel behavior researchers will join this effort.

Supplemental Notes:

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ADB10 Traveler Behavior and Values.

Monograph Accession #:

01503729

Report/Paper Numbers:

14-2887

Language:

English

Corporate Authors:

Transportation Research Board

500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001 United States

Authors:

Wang, Tingting
Chen, Cynthia
Ma, Jingtao

Pagination:

17p

Publication Date:

2014

Conference:

Transportation Research Board 93rd Annual Meeting

Location: Washington DC
Date: 2014-1-12 to 2014-1-16
Sponsors: Transportation Research Board

Media Type:

Digital/other

Features:

Figures; References

Uncontrolled Terms:

Mobile phone positioning

Subject Areas:

Data and Information Technology; Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning

Source Data:

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2014 Paper #14-2887

Files:

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Created Date:

Jan 27 2014 2:59PM