Uncovering regional freight travel patterns from GNSS trajectories: A multi-scale spatial analysis to inform transport policy in China

Road-freight movements are central to regional supply chains and to current policy agendas on logistics cost reduction and green freight, but remain difficult to characterize at scale. Using week-long GNSS trajectories from 1495 trucks in Hunan, China, this study develops a reproducible pipeline that (i) detects stops via dual-neighborhood DBSCAN, (ii) optimizes dwell-time thresholds with a Lorenz-curve–based procedure, and (iii) filters OD points by POI semantics. We then build a spatio-semantic feature set (temporal rhythms, trip distance, dwell duration, road-hierarchy composition, and POI categories) to uncover freight regularities. Information-criterion–guided clustering yields three policy-interpretable operational patterns: mixed regional multi-stop delivery, long-haul industrial chain, and short-haul urban–rural service. To explain spatial heterogeneity in freight intensity (OD counts), we compare OLS, GWR, and MGWR. MGWR performs best and reveals where and at what spatial scale drivers operate. Beyond methodological contributions, the study provides actionable policy insights. Corridor-level factors (travel distance, enterprise-related POIs, reliance on expressways) dominate long-haul industrial chains, suggesting the need for targeted investment in expressway–industrial park connectors, service hubs, and interchange bottlenecks. Local-scale forces (dwell duration, shopping/living-service POIs, county and township roads) underpin multi-stop and short-haul services, pointing to township-level consolidation nodes, dynamic curb management, and county-road maintenance as policy priorities. By explicitly linking GNSS-based freight analytics with differentiated, scale-aware governance strategies, this research supports national and regional initiatives to reduce logistics costs, strengthen supply chain resilience, and advance sustainable freight transitions. It informs ongoing debates on when to prioritize road-based operations versus passenger-freight co-modality. The reproducible pipeline is fully documented and transferable, enabling its application in other regions and countries facing similar freight policy challenges.