A visual exploration of mobile phone users, land cover, time, and space

Abstract

A series of maps were produced that together form a type of atlas of the Nokia Mobile Data Challenge (MDC). Like in a traditional geographic atlas, a limited number of base map configurations is generated, onto which various thematic elements are then overlaid. Two of those base maps are themselves derived from MDC data; the third is referenced in geographic space. Thematic overlays serve several purposes, including elaborating different elements from which the base map geometry had been derived, as well as linking other data to it. The core of the study presented here is an intersection of high-dimensional concepts, dimensionality reduction, geographic analysis, and visualization, intended as a point of departure towards an integrated, attribute-centered understanding of people’s movement patterns. Among the advances put forth is a new time-weighted kernel density model approach derived from journey vertices captured via GPS and WLAN.