Articolo in rivista, 2018, ENG, 10.1007/s10618-017-0548-4

Data-driven generation of spatio-temporal routines in human mobility

Pappalardo L.; Simini F.

CNR-ISTI, Pisa, Italy and Università di Pisa, Pisa, Italy; CNR-ISTI, Pisa, Italy and Department of Engineering Mathematics, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK

The generation of realistic spatio-temporal trajectories of human mobility is of fundamental importance in a wide range of applications, such as the developing of protocols for mobile ad-hoc networks or what-if analysis in urban ecosystems. Current generative algorithms fail in accurately reproducing the individuals' recurrent schedules and at the same time in accounting for the possibility that individuals may break the routine during periods of variable duration. In this article we present Ditras (DIary-based TRAjectory Simulator), a framework to simulate the spatio-temporal patterns of human mobility. Ditras operates in two steps: the generation of a mobility diary and the translation of the mobility diary into a mobility trajectory. We propose a data-driven algorithm which constructs a diary generator from real data, capturing the tendency of individuals to follow or break their routine. We also propose a trajectory generator based on the concept of preferential exploration and preferential return. We instantiate Ditras with the proposed diary and trajectory generators and compare the resulting algorithm with real data and synthetic data produced by other generative algorithms, built by instantiating Ditras with several combinations of diary and trajectory generators. We show that the proposed algorithm reproduces the statistical properties of real trajectories in the most accurate way, making a step forward the understanding of the origin of the spatio-temporal patterns of human mobility.

Data mining and knowledge discovery 32 (3), pp. 787–829

Keywords

Data science, Human mobility, Complex systems, Big data, Mathematical modeling, Spatiotemporal data

CNR authors

Simini Filippo, Pappalardo Luca

CNR institutes

ISTI – Istituto di scienza e tecnologie dell'informazione "Alessandro Faedo"

ID: 385727

Year: 2018

Type: Articolo in rivista

Creation: 2018-03-27 10:04:12.000

Last update: 2021-03-25 22:35:42.000

External IDs

CNR OAI-PMH: oai:it.cnr:prodotti:385727

DOI: 10.1007/s10618-017-0548-4

Scopus: 2-s2.0-85039840221

ISI Web of Science (WOS): 000431671400009