Time Geography Research Articles

Applying frequent-pattern mining and time geography to impute gaps in smartphone-based human-movement data

ABSTRACT Though GPS-based human trajectory data have been commonly used in travel surveys and human mobility studies, missing data or data gaps that are intrinsically relevant to research reliability remain a critical and challenging issue. This study proposes a novel framework for imputing data gaps based on frequent-pattern mining and time geography, which allows for considering spatio-temporal travel restrictions during imputation by evaluating the spatio-temporal topology relations between the space-time prisms of gaps and corresponding frequent activities or trips. For the validation, the proposed framework is applied to raw GPS trajectories that were collected from 139 participants in Switzerland. In the case study, the temporal and spatio-temporal gaps are artificially generated by randomly choosing activities and trips from the trajectory data. Through comparing the mobility indicators (i.e. duration and distance) calculated from raw data, imputed data, and data with gaps, we quantitatively evaluate the performance of the proposed method in terms of Pearson correlation coefficients and deviation. We further compare the framework with the shortest path interpolation method based on the generated spatio-temporal gaps. The comparison results demonstrate the performance and advantage of the proposed method in imputing gaps from GPS-based human movement data.

시공간 자료 지리적 시각화를 통한 코로나바이러스감염증-19 확진자 시공간 이동경로 분석에 관한 연구

Contact with the patient is an important transmission route for the transmission of infectious diseases, so an individual level information of activity can be used as an important index to determine risks of infection. The purpose of this study is to propose a method to understand the migration characteristics of COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease 2019) patients by using personal movement. To this end, a geovisualization prototype environment has been developed with the concept of time geography in order to analyze data on the movement route of corona patients in Seoul. In the geovisualization prototype, a three-dimensional path is used to visualize the visited places of COVID-19 patients by time period. In addition, visit time and stay time by place of visit are expressed in a cylinder reflecting the concept of the station so that it is possible to determine whether or not the visiting places are overlapped by the patients. The visualization method proposed in this study has the following advantages. First, it is possible to analyze the spatiotemporal movement characteristics by simultaneously visualizing the spatiotemporal ranges and characteristics of the movement of COVID-19 patients. Second, it is possible to identify the shared location of the infected patients through visualization of the station along the path of their movement.

Tourism Geography through the Lens of Time Use: A Computational Framework Using Fine-Grained Mobile Phone Data

Location-aware technologies and big data are transforming the ways we capture and analyze human activities. This has particularly affected tourism geography, which aims to study tourist activities within the context of space and places. In this study, we argue that the tourism geography of cities can be better understood through the time use of tourists captured by fine-grained human mobility observations. By using a large-scale mobile phone data set collected in three cities in South Korea (Gangneung, Jeonju, and Chuncheon), we develop a computational framework to enable accurate quantification of tourist time use, the visualization of their spatiotemporal activity patterns, and systematic comparisons across cities. The framework consists of several approaches for the extraction and semantic labeling of tourist activities, visual-analytic tools (time use diagram, time–activity diagram) for examining their time use, as well as quantitative measures that facilitate day-to-day comparisons. The feasibility of the framework is demonstrated by performing a comparative analysis in three cities during representative days when tourists tended to show more regular patterns. The framework is also employed to examine tourist time use during special events, using Gangneung during the 2018 Winter Olympics (WO) as an example. The findings are validated by comparing the spatiotemporal patterns with the WO calendar of events. The study provides a new perspective that connects time geography and tourism through the usage of spatiotemporal big data. The computational framework can be applied to compatible data sets to advance time geography, tourism, and urban mobility research.

An adaptive approach for modelling the movement uncertainty in trajectory data based on the concept of error ellipses

ABSTRACT Modelling movement uncertainty is of profound significance in promoting effective trajectory analysis and mining. However, classic uncertainty models are limited by rigid assumptions on moving speed and distance, which ignores the stochastic nature of individual’s travel behaviour. This study introduces a novel method using adaptive ellipses to represent the movement uncertainty in a planar space under the framework of time geography. Two models are established by considering different error sources in trajectory data. The first model captures the uncertainty caused by sampling error, and the second one further, takes the measurement error into account. The Minkowski distance metric is adopted to determine the size of uncertainty ellipses, in which the Minkowski parameter is optimized for each segment in the raw trajectory on the basis of the geometric characteristics extracted. Compared with state-of-the-art methods on five real-life trajectory datasets, the proposed method is proved to produce more effective uncertain regions, which significantly reduce the redundant uncertain area, while retaining at a comparative level of actual movement coverage. Given the heterogeneity of human mobility patterns, this study provides a robust and applicable solution for adaptively modelling individual’s movement uncertainty, which is expected to benefit trajectory-related applications in various scenarios.

Time-space constraints to HIV treatment engagement among women who use heroin in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania: A time geography perspective.

Timely initiation and sustained adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) are essential to improving the health outcomes of people living with HIV and preventing onward HIV transmission. However, women who use heroin often face challenges to initiating and adhering to ART. In this paper we identify spatial, temporal, and social factors that affect HIV treatment engagement among women who use heroin, drawing from a time geography framework. We conducted in-depth interviews with 30 heroin-using women living with HIV in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania between January and March 2019. We found that unstable housing, high mobility, HIV-related stigma, and unpredictable daily paths due to heroin use and involvement in sex work spatially and temporally constrained women who use heroin from incorporating HIV treatment behaviors into daily routines. Some women, however, were able to overcome these time-space constraints to HIV treatment engagement through social support and social role performance. Time geography, including concepts of time-space constraints and daily paths, is a useful framework for identifying barriers to ART engagement. Structural, relational, and individual interventions aimed at eliminating time-space constraints hold the potential to improve HIV treatment engagement among particularly vulnerable and mobile populations.

When Do Offenders Commit Crime? An Analysis of Temporal Consistency in Individual Offending Patterns

ObjectivesBuilding on Hägerstrand’s time geography, we expect temporal consistency in individual offending behavior. We hypothesize that repeat offenders commit offenses at similar times of day and week. In addition, we expect stronger temporal consistency for crimes of the same type and for crimes committed within a shorter time span.MethodWe use police-recorded crime data on 28,274 repeat offenders who committed 152,180 offenses between 1996 and 2009 in the greater The Hague area in the Netherlands. We use a Monte Carlo permutation procedure to compare the overall level of temporal consistency observed in the data to the temporal consistency that is to be expected given the overall temporal distribution of crime.ResultsRepeat offenders show strong temporal consistency: they commit their crimes at more similar hours of day and week than expected. Moreover, the observed temporal consistency patterns are indeed stronger for offenses of the same type of crime and when less time has elapsed between the offenses, especially for offenses committed within a month after the prior offense.DiscussionThe results are consistent with offenders having recurring rhythms that shape their temporal crime pattern. These findings might prove valuable for improving predictive policing methods and crime linkage analysis as well as interventions to reduce recidivism.

Research and application of space-time behavior maps: a review

ABSTRACT Today, in the space-time big data environment, the research into behavior maps, as an important spatial analysis and behavior visualization method, has gradually increased in dimension, depth and breadth. In this study, we used the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) database and the Web of Science (WOS) Core Collection database as the main literature search engines, through the literature review, the behavior maps analysis type, visual expression, and its method evolution are summarized. And we used CiteSpace and VOSviewer scientific knowledge mapping software to reveal the hotspots, development trends, and field dynamics of space-time behavior maps research in the collected documents. We find that the current research literature on space-time behavior maps shows three areas of clustering: post-occupancy evaluation, public open space, and time geography. By establishing the typical application cases in the three fields, the applications and development frontiers are summarized and considered.

Restrictions of Historical Tissues on Urban Growth, Self-Sustaining Agglomeration in Walled Cities of Chinese Origin

This article uses a fractal observation to help delineate the constraints placed by multiple city walls on the growth of historical East Asian cities. By applying advanced technologies from economic geography and fractal indices, a staged scaling process within urban dimension coherence can be applied to both indices. In this study, a discovery is proposed based on the urban organism concept that is capable of indicating a proportional intra-urban structure from a fundamental wall-bounded urban element (local specificity) to other greater walled spatial properties (global variables). This local specificity potentially performs approximate scaling regularities, and spatially denotes an average historical threshold of urban growth for its overall size, with similar scaling law constraints. This finding involves territorial, urban planning, and ancient architectural perspectives, providing a historical and local response to the expansion of contemporary cities. By employing growing fractal estimation, data processing enables the logarithmic city size to be obtained by measuring each wall’s specific features using the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) method. On the basis of two-dimensional allometric scaling patches, a spatial unfolding mechanism is utilized to reproduce these dynamic changes with city walls as a result of the human trajectories in time geography.

Times of Work and Social Life: Bangladeshi Migrants in Northeast Italy and London

Taking inspiration from renewed scholarly interest in the role of time in migration, we compare the temporalities of work and social life among male Bangladeshi-origin migrants in northeast Italy and London. We draw conceptually on time geography and rhythmanalysis, and empirically on interviews with 40 Bangladeshi migrant men, to demonstrate the stark contrasts in migrants’ daily lives in the two settings and the impacts of moving from northeast Italy to London. More broadly, this article contributes to debates on the temporalities and rhythms of migrants’ everyday lives via comparative analysis. While in both settings capitalism inexorably shaped class dynamics through its command over flexible labor, there were also marked differences in the routinization of migrants’ work and social and family life. In northeast Italy’s small industrial towns, stable shift-based working rhythms created regular free time for family and associative life. In London, where participants’ employment was limited to low-skill jobs with unsocial hours, family and social life was disrupted, with consequential effects on social integration. The findings presented here highlight the under-appreciated role of onward migration in global migration dynamics and underscore the importance of time, in particular the way in which the diverse temporalities of migrants’ daily lives are shaped by the mode of regulation of the labor market and the spatial setting where migrants’ working and social lives unfold.

Too packed for existence? More-than-subjective land-use issues in pockets of local order: the case of land-use conflict in Swedish Lapland

ABSTRACT Time geography has been applied to study geographical situations characterised by intertwining temporal and spatial aspects. The availability of space for the conduct of land-use activities as temporal-action sequences can be investigated using time geography. The present study utilises time geography to examine how geography matters in the context of a contested mining proposal in Swedish Lapland, namely the case of reindeer herding in Gállok. The time-geographic notion of “packing” that denotes time–space compactness is utilised to investigate the room to manoeuvre available for reindeer herding. The theoretical entry lies in the idea that maximum nearness in human society has to do with the manner in which activities are organised in space and time. This is embraced by the time-geographic concept of the pocket of local order. The article reviews discussion in the literature of the notion of packing and discusses the organisation of reindeer herding as land use in the case studied. The study examines how space and time may matter in detail, as well as how the concept of the pocket of local order can be utilised to assess this and to detect the prevailing degree of packing. It suggests that such dependences represent more-than-subjective preconditions of operational character in land use. The study contributes to understanding of how the successful conduct of the business of land use may depend on the ability to maintain organisational coherence in a temporal–spatial sense.

Methodological Approaches to the Delimitation of the Boundaries of the Moscow Agglomeration Based on Data from Mobile Network Operators

The article highlights the boundaries of the Moscow agglomeration and analyzes its spatial structure using approaches involving the concept of time geography. The study is based on a methodology for determining functional urban areas of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD); mobile operators data on the localization of network users are applied. The analysis showed the impossibility of using the OECD methodology without adaptation to Russian conditions. This is because, according to this methodology, the entire territory of a “real city,” including the “bedroom districts” of Moscow and its satellite towns, lies in the core zone. Meanwhile, the suburban zone extends to the territory of almost all of Moscow oblast, in many directions beyond its borders. The proposed adapted variant of the delimitation methodology involves a reduction in the size of the core to the borders of the Moscow Ring Road (MKAD) with a corresponding decrease in the boundaries of the suburban zone. This is consistent with the approaches and ideas prevailing in Russian practice. Using the methodology of the spatiotemporal approach (concept of time geography), a “pulsating agglomeration” model was developed. This model is a way of studying and analyzing the dynamics of socioeconomic functioning of agglomerations, taking into account the different socioeconomic rhythms of the agglomeration. As part of the agglomeration, “static” (constant throughout the year) and “mobile” (seasonal) parts of the suburban area were distinguished. This allowed us to include in the analysis of “pulsation” not only the population of the structural elements of the agglomeration, but also its borders, depending on the seasons of the year.

A spatial data model for urban spatial-temporal accessibility analysis.

Time geography represents the uncertainty of the space–time position of moving objects through two basic structures, the space–time path and space–time prism, which are subject to the speed allowed in the travel environment. Thus, any attempt at a quantitative time-geographic analysis must consider the actual velocity with respect to space. In a trip, individuals tend to pass through structurally varying spaces, such as linear traffic networks and planar walking surfaces, which are not suitable for use in a single GIS spatial data model (i.e., network, raster) that is only applicable to a single spatial structure (i.e., point, line, polygon). In this study, a velocity model is developed for a traffic network and walking surface-constrained travel environment through the divide-and-conquer principle. The construction of this model can be divided into three basic steps: the spatial layering of the dual-constrained travel environment; independent modelling of each layer using different spatial data models; and generation of layer-based time-geographic framework by merging models of each layer. We demonstrate the usefulness of the model for studying the space–time accessibility of a moving object over a study area with varying spatial structures. Finally, an example is given to analyse the effectiveness of the proposed model.

Time Geography, a Method in Psychiatric Nursing Care

Patients’ life history is of primary interest in psychiatric nursing care. Our aim was to illustrate how we used time geography as a method to identify individuals' patterns in relation to certain situations in place. We have used interviews and diaries to construct life charts by hand and with a computer software program. By using time geography, we provide a rich amount of information, which can generate a broader picture of a person’s life, to identify stressful as well as social aspects of a person’s life. Patients with mental ill health need and value the therapeutic relationship using time geography.

Time efficiency assessment of ship movements in maritime ports: A case study of two ports based on AIS data

Operational efficiency of a maritime port is an important issue for shipping lines and port authorities. It is desirable to move ships in and out of a maritime port as efficiently as possible. Automatic identification system (AIS) data recording the trajectory of ship movements allow us to assess the operational efficiency as ships move in and out of a port. This study proposes a time efficiency assessment framework that evaluates the amount of time each ship spends in the different areas within a port (i.e., berth, anchorage, and fairway) based on the space-time trajectories of ship movements derived from AIS data. According to the statistical distributions of time spent by different types of ship in each port area, the proposed framework can compare time efficiency across different zones within a port and between different ports. This study uses AIS data of four types of ships (i.e., container, cargo, tanker, and passenger ships) at two selected ports in China, Shanghai Yangshan Port and Xiamen Port, to demonstrate how the proposed approach can effectively assess and compare time efficiency levels of ship movements between the times entering and leaving the vessel traffic service (VTS) lines of a port. This study demonstrates the value of deriving space-time trajectories from AIS data based on the concepts of time geography to assess time efficiency levels of maritime ports and monitor their performance over time, which offer useful information to both shipping lines and port authorities for operations such as efficient scheduling and logistic support.

Mapping areas of asynchronous‐temporal interaction in animal‐telemetry data

AbstractAnimal interactions are a crucial aspect of behavioral ecology that affect mating, territorial behavior, resource use, and disease spread. Commonly, animals will interact because of shared resources. Recent methods have used time geography to map landscape areas where interactions were possible. However, such methods do not identify areas of less direct interaction, like through smell or sight. These indirect or asynchronous interactions are also a crucial aspect of animal behavioral ecology and affect group behaviors such as leading/following hierarchies and joint resource use. Asynchronous interactions are difficult to map because they can occur in a synchronous space at asynchronous times, as well as in asynchronous spaces at a synchronous time. Here, we present a method termed the temporally asynchronous‐joint potential path area (ta‐jPPA) that maps areas of potential temporally asynchronous–spatially synchronous interactions. We used simulated data to statistically test ta‐jPPA and empirical data to demonstrate how ta‐jPPA can find patterns in habitat use.

The Production of Space in Western Canada, 1850–1914

Studies that investigated the rate of settlement in the Canadian prairies used decennial census or provincial census records to estimate the flow of population into the area. I use, instead, detailed data from individual land offices across western Canada. What the analysis shows is that dividing the land into small plots does not mean that the allocation of land was successful or more democratic, as several studies claim. The HGIS analysis helped to estimate the area of influence of each land office and thus to evaluate with more precision the dynamics of prairie settlement. By incorporating georeferenced data into the study of the region, I provide a new toolset to study a changing geography in time and space. The importance of this method resides in the fact that even though several works performed micro-studies of small communities or areas, nobody has yet produced a complete record of the region. I provide another methodology for a more comprehensive estimate of the production of space in western Canada.

Parallel lives: Intergroup contact, threat, and the segregation of everyday activity spaces.

Although intergroup contact can reduce prejudice, opportunities to experience such contact are often constrained by systems of segregation. Work on this problem has focused on divisions entrenched within institutions of residence, education, and employment. Our research employed a complementary approach, which treated segregation as the outcome of individuals' movements over time within everyday life spaces. Taking as a case study Catholics' and Protestants' use of public environments in north Belfast, we used GPS tracking technology, combined with GIS analytics, to explore the time geography of residents' activity space use over a 2-week period (Study 1). We also conducted a field survey to explore how psychological factors shaped their willingness to use activity spaces beyond their own communities (Study 2). Analysis based on around 1,000 hr of raw movement data revealed that north Belfast is marked by high levels of segregation, expressed via residents' limited use of public spaces, facilities, and pathways located in outgroup areas. However, use of shared spaces is also common, with Catholics spending more time in such spaces than Protestants. Structural equation modeling suggested that residents' self-reported willingness to use activity spaces outside their own communities was associated with both negative and positive intergroup contact-relationships partially mediated by realistic threat, symbolic threat, and anxiety over interaction across sectarian lines. Both kinds of contact and realistic threat were also associated with the time residents actually spent in spaces beyond their own communities. Opportunities for integrating psychological and geographic research on contact and segregation are highlighted. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Tourists’ spatial-temporal behavior patterns in theme parks: A case study of Ocean Park Hong Kong

Abstract: Time, space, and activities are considered three important domains of the tourist experience. The core time geography concept of the ‘space–time path’, which highlights activity-based constraints, serves as a powerful visualization and quantification tool revealing tourists' spatial-temporal behavior. Moreover, the proliferation of tourist-tracking technologies has enabled more precise tourist behavioral data than ever before. This paper aims to integrate multiple data sources to analyze tourists' spatial–temporal behavior patterns on a micro scale. A five-day survey was conducted at Ocean Park Hong Kong from July 6 to 10, 2014. Information about tourists' temporal–spatial behavior was gathered using handheld GPS tracking devices, and questionnaires were distributed to assess tourists' socio-psychological characteristics. Given marked differences in demographic and emotional characteristics, three spatial–temporal behavior clusters were identified via density center clustering, consisting of four factors: path length, tour time, coverage area, and oval circumference. This study presents a novel way to develop a better understanding of tourists' spatial-temporal behavior patterns based on GIS visualization and clustering methods from a microscopic perspective, thus contributing to theme park attraction management and tourist experience enhancements.

Method for calculating the encounter probability in network space

AbstractProbabilistic time geography (PTG) can be used to measure the probability of random encounters between two moving objects. Available PTG methods are based on homogeneous space, while the network space is typically heterogeneous, which constrains individuals to the network. Therefore, the PTG of the network must consider the geographic network. Based on this, we put forward a method for calculating the encounter probability of objects that are moving in a network by considering network constraints on movement. These constraints not only restrict the space‐time accessibility of the moving objects, but also affect the probability of them visiting locations or encountering other objects in space and time. Therefore, in network space, our method improves measures of the likelihood of encounters between moving objects, thereby enabling more accurate predictions of encounter events and their probabilities. Finally, the performance of the method is experimentally evaluated. In the experiment, campus road network data and simulated trip data are used to calculate the encounter probabilities of two moving objects and to determine when and where two moving objects meet with the highest probability.

Theoretical and Practical Issues of Innovation Research: Social Innovation in Hungary

In recent decades, innovation research has played an important role in exploring the drivers of local and regional economic development. Nowadays, it is part of the generally accepted scientific canon that various forms of innovation (technological, business and social innovation) play a defining role in the economic development and competitiveness of cities, regions and countries. The context above points out that innovation is an important factor in the spatiality of society, but at the same time geography, more precisely geographical distance or proximity, is a determining element of innovation. In the present study, we provide an overview of the latest theoretical and empirical research developments in the “geography of innovation”, more precisely in the “geography of social innovation”, with application in Hungary. Keywords: social innovation, social innovation geography, regional development, geographical proximity