Research on Collective Human Mobility in Shanghai Based on Cell Phone Data

Abstract

The high-frequency mobility of a massive population has caused an enormous influence on the urban internal structure, which is unable to be described by traditional data sources. While recent advances in location-based technologies provides new opportunities for researchers to understand daily human movements and the structure as a whole. The article aims to explore human spatial movements and their aggregate distribution in Shanghai using large-scale cell phone data. The trajectory of each individual is extracted from cell phone data after data cleansing. Then, an indicator system which includes mobility intensity, mobility stability, influential range, and temporal variation is developed to describe collective human mobility features in census tracts scale. Finally, spatial elements are extracted using the indicator system and the structure of human mobility in Shanghai is discussed.