Building mobility profiles based on mobile cell data

GEOInsight cooperating with the Geographical Research Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences is processing, analysing and interpreting the locational component of various big data, for instance mobile cellular data and cash turnover data of point-of-sale (POS) terminals, collected by the National Tax and Customs Administration. Information on accumulation, spreading and mobility of mobile phone users – derived from the locational component of the cellular data transmitted by every single telecommunication event – can be used to define ’mobility types’. By knowing typical user performances (how diverse spatial usage set up mobility profiles) we can investigate social challenges, for instance how urban heat impacts spatial aggregation patterns of the citizens (e.g. on an extreme hot day). None the worse mobility profiles can also address use cases in e-commerce or tourism. Referring here to the trend of online retailers’ increasing offline presence (drive-througs, click-and-collect services) we argue, that geographical location remains to be a factor of business decisions. User profiles can also come in handy by elaborating efficiency analysis of tourism campaigns, or by investigating typical visitors’ profile of a festival. While aggregation level of POS-turnover data does not make it adaptable to integrate with cellular geographical data, still it can be used to cross-check information and validate business decisions.

Szabó Tünde
Consultant, MTA CSFK; Managing director, GEOInsight Ltd.

Tünde Szabó PhD worked as spatial data analyst and urban planner for seven years for the City of Budapest. By leaving urban planning she completed her PhD thesis in the field of agglomeration economies and mobility patterns of metropolitan spaces. Now she is working on a knowledge transfer project together with MTelekom and the Geographical Research Institute (Hungarian Academy of Sciences) in order to define social utilities and potential business applications of location cellular data.