Mobile phone data from GSM networks for traffic parameter and urban spatial pattern assessment: a review of applications and opportunities

Abstract

The use of wireless location technology and mobile phone data appears to offer a broad range of new opportunities for sophisticated applications in traffic management and monitoring, particularly in the field of incident management. Indeed, due to the high market penetration of mobile phones, it allows the use of very detailed spatial data at lower costs than traditional data collection techniques. Albeit recent, the literature in the field is wide-ranging, although not adequately structured. The aim of this paper is to provide a systematic overview of the main studies and projects addressing the use of data derived from mobile phone networks to obtain location and traffic estimations of individuals, as a starting point for further research on incident and traffic management. The advantages and limitations of the process of retrieving location information and transportation parameters from cellular phones are also highlighted. The issues are presented by providing a description of the current background and data types retrievable from the GSM network. In addition to a literature review, the main findings on the so-called Current City project are presented. This is a test system in Amsterdam (The Netherlands) for the extraction of mobile phone data and for the analysis of the spatial network activity patterns. The main purpose of this project is to provide a full picture of the mobility and area consequences of an incident in near real time to create situation awareness. The first results from this project on how telecom data can be utilized for understanding individual presence and mobility in regular situations and during non-recurrent events where regular flows of people are disrupted by an incident are presented. Furthermore, various interesting studies and projects carried out so far in the field are analyzed, leading to the identification of important research issues related to the use of mobile phone data in transportation applications. Relevant issues concern, on the one hand, factors that influence accuracy, reliability, data quality and techniques used for validation, and on the other hand, the specific role of private mobile companies and transportation agencies.