IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hhs/lucirc/2020_006.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Geography of Connectivity: Trails of Mobile Phone Data

Author

Listed:
  • Erlström, Andreas

    (Lund University)

  • Grillitsch, Markus

    (CIRCLE, Lund University)

  • Hall, Ola

    (Lund University)

Abstract

Connectivity between and within places is one of the cornerstones of human geography. However, the data and methodologies used to capture connectivity are limited due to the difficulty in gathering and analysing detailed observations in time and space. Mobile phone data potentially offers a rich and unprecedented source of data, which is exhaustive in time and space closely following movements and partly communication activities of individuals. This paper discusses the state-of-the-art in the analysis of mobile phone data, identifies methodological challenges, elaborates on key findings for geography, and outlines opportunities for future research on the geography of connectivity.

Suggested Citation

  • Erlström, Andreas & Grillitsch, Markus & Hall, Ola, 2020. "The Geography of Connectivity: Trails of Mobile Phone Data," Papers in Innovation Studies 2020/6, Lund University, CIRCLE - Centre for Innovation Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2020_006
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://wp.circle.lu.se/upload/CIRCLE/workingpapers/202006_erlstrom.pdf
    File Function: Full text
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kang, Chaogui & Ma, Xiujun & Tong, Daoqin & Liu, Yu, 2012. "Intra-urban human mobility patterns: An urban morphology perspective," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 391(4), pages 1702-1717.
    2. Jukka-Pekka Onnela & Samuel Arbesman & Marta C González & Albert-László Barabási & Nicholas A Christakis, 2011. "Geographic Constraints on Social Network Groups," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(4), pages 1-7, April.
    3. Joshua E. Blumenstock, 2018. "Estimating Economic Characteristics with Phone Data," AEA Papers and Proceedings, American Economic Association, vol. 108, pages 72-76, May.
    4. Martin Andersson & Charlie Karlsson, 2007. "Knowledge in Regional Economic Growth—The Role of Knowledge Accessibility," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(2), pages 129-149.
    5. Guanghua Chi & Jean-Claude Thill & Daoqin Tong & Li Shi & Yu Liu, 2016. "Uncovering regional characteristics from mobile phone data: A network science approach," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 95(3), pages 613-631, August.
    6. Santi Phithakkitnukoon & Zbigniew Smoreda & Patrick Olivier, 2012. "Socio-Geography of Human Mobility: A Study Using Longitudinal Mobile Phone Data," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(6), pages 1-9, June.
    7. Tom Kemeny & Maryann Feldman & Frank Ethridge & Ted Zoller, 2016. "The economic value of local social networks," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 16(5), pages 1101-1122.
    8. Sanja Šćepanović & Igor Mishkovski & Pan Hui & Jukka K Nurminen & Antti Ylä-Jääski, 2015. "Mobile Phone Call Data as a Regional Socio-Economic Proxy Indicator," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(4), pages 1-15, April.
    9. Nancy Ettlinger, 2003. "Cultural economic geography and a relational and microspace approach to trusts, rationalities, networks, and change in collaborative workplaces," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 3(2), pages 145-171, April.
    10. Elisa Giuliani, 2007. "The selective nature of knowledge networks in clusters: evidence from the wine industry," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 7(2), pages 139-168, March.
    11. Nicola Cortinovis & Jing Xiao & Ron Boschma & Frank G van Oort, 2017. "Quality of government and social capital as drivers of regional diversification in Europe," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 17(6), pages 1179-1208.
    12. Timo Schmid & Fabian Bruckschen & Nicola Salvati & Till Zbiranski, 2017. "Constructing sociodemographic indicators for national statistical institutes by using mobile phone data: estimating literacy rates in Senegal," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 180(4), pages 1163-1190, October.
    13. Anniki Puura & Siiri Silm & Rein Ahas, 2018. "The Relationship between Social Networks and Spatial Mobility: A Mobile-Phone-Based Study in Estonia," Journal of Urban Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(2), pages 7-25, April.
    14. Marta C. González & César A. Hidalgo & Albert-László Barabási, 2009. "Understanding individual human mobility patterns," Nature, Nature, vol. 458(7235), pages 238-238, March.
    15. Markus Grillitsch & Magnus Nilsson, 2015. "Innovation in peripheral regions: Do collaborations compensate for a lack of local knowledge spillovers?," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 54(1), pages 299-321, January.
    16. Maarten Vanhoof & Willem Schoors & Anton Van Rompaey & Thomas Ploetz & Zbigniew Smoreda, 2018. "Comparing Regional Patterns of Individual Movement Using Corrected Mobility Entropy," Journal of Urban Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(2), pages 27-61, April.
    17. Hernandez,Marco & Hong,Lingzi & Frias-Martinez,Vanessa & Frias-Martinez,Enrique, 2017. "Estimating poverty using cell phone data : evidence from Guatemala," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7969, The World Bank.
    18. Francesco Calabrese & Zbigniew Smoreda & Vincent D Blondel & Carlo Ratti, 2011. "Interplay between Telecommunications and Face-to-Face Interactions: A Study Using Mobile Phone Data," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(7), pages 1-6, July.
    19. Han Wang & Liam Kilmartin, 2014. "Comparing Rural and Urban Social and Economic Behavior in Uganda: Insights from Mobile Voice Service Usage," Journal of Urban Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(2), pages 61-89, April.
    20. Kevin Morgan, 2004. "The exaggerated death of geography: learning, proximity and territorial innovation systems," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 4(1), pages 3-21, January.
    21. Filippo Simini & Marta C. González & Amos Maritan & Albert-László Barabási, 2012. "A universal model for mobility and migration patterns," Nature, Nature, vol. 484(7392), pages 96-100, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Andreas Erlström & Markus Grillitsch & Ola Hall, 2022. "The geography of connectivity: a review of mobile positioning data for economic geography," Journal of Geographical Systems, Springer, vol. 24(4), pages 679-707, October.
    2. Ron Boschma, 2021. "Global Value Chains from an Evolutionary Economic Geography perspective: a research agenda," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2134, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Nov 2021.
    3. Rezapour, Shabnam & Baghaian, Atefe & Naderi, Nazanin & Sarmiento, Juan P., 2023. "Infection transmission and prevention in metropolises with heterogeneous and dynamic populations," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 304(1), pages 113-138.
    4. Sanja Šćepanović & Igor Mishkovski & Pan Hui & Jukka K Nurminen & Antti Ylä-Jääski, 2015. "Mobile Phone Call Data as a Regional Socio-Economic Proxy Indicator," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(4), pages 1-15, April.
    5. Maxime Lenormand & Miguel Picornell & Oliva G Cantú-Ros & Antònia Tugores & Thomas Louail & Ricardo Herranz & Marc Barthelemy & Enrique Frías-Martínez & José J Ramasco, 2014. "Cross-Checking Different Sources of Mobility Information," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(8), pages 1-10, August.
    6. Huang, Feihu & Qiao, Shaojie & Peng, Jian & Guo, Bing & Xiong, Xi & Han, Nan, 2019. "A movement model for air passengers based on trip purpose," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 525(C), pages 798-808.
    7. Shanshan Wan & Zhuo Chen & Cheng Lyu & Ruofan Li & Yuntao Yue & Ying Liu, 2022. "Research on disaster information dissemination based on social sensor networks," International Journal of Distributed Sensor Networks, , vol. 18(3), pages 15501329221, March.
    8. José Miguel Giner-Pérez & María Jesús Santa-María, 2021. "Spatial Agglomerations in the Spanish Food Industry: Does Sectorial Disaggregation Matter?," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 44(5), pages 515-559, September.
    9. Chaogui Kang & Yu Liu & Diansheng Guo & Kun Qin, 2015. "A Generalized Radiation Model for Human Mobility: Spatial Scale, Searching Direction and Trip Constraint," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(11), pages 1-11, November.
    10. Claudio Gariazzo & Armando Pelliccioni & Maria Paola Bogliolo, 2019. "Spatiotemporal Analysis of Urban Mobility Using Aggregate Mobile Phone Derived Presence and Demographic Data: A Case Study in the City of Rome, Italy," Data, MDPI, vol. 4(1), pages 1-25, January.
    11. Han Wang & Damien Fay & Kenneth N. Brown & Liam Kilmartin, 2016. "Modelling revenue generation in a dynamically priced mobile telephony service," Telecommunication Systems: Modelling, Analysis, Design and Management, Springer, vol. 62(4), pages 711-734, August.
    12. Gonzalo Suarez & Rachata Muneepeerakul, 2022. "Modeling human migration driven by changing mindset, agglomeration, social ties, and the environment," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(2), pages 1-11, February.
    13. Rune Dahl Fitjar & Andrés Rodríguez-Pose, 2017. "Nothing is in the Air," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(1), pages 22-39, March.
    14. Markus Grillitsch & Magnus Nilsson, 2019. "Knowledge externalities and firm heterogeneity: Effects on high and low growth firms," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 98(1), pages 93-114, February.
    15. Wang, Wenjun & Pan, Lin & Yuan, Ning & Zhang, Sen & Liu, Dong, 2015. "A comparative analysis of intra-city human mobility by taxi," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 420(C), pages 134-147.
    16. D. Woods & A. Cunningham & C. E. Utazi & M. Bondarenko & L. Shengjie & G. E. Rogers & P. Koper & C. W. Ruktanonchai & E. zu Erbach-Schoenberg & A. J. Tatem & J. Steele & A. Sorichetta, 2022. "Exploring methods for mapping seasonal population changes using mobile phone data," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-17, December.
    17. Li, Cong & Zhang, Shumin & Li, Xiang, 2019. "Can multiple social ties help improve human location prediction?," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 525(C), pages 1276-1288.
    18. Francis Rathinam & Sayak Khatua & Zeba Siddiqui & Manya Malik & Pallavi Duggal & Samantha Watson & Xavier Vollenweider, 2021. "Using big data for evaluating development outcomes: A systematic map," Campbell Systematic Reviews, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 17(3), September.
    19. Alejandro Llorente & Manuel Garcia-Herranz & Manuel Cebrian & Esteban Moro, 2015. "Social Media Fingerprints of Unemployment," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(5), pages 1-13, May.
    20. Ceci, Federica & Iubatti, Daniela, 2012. "Personal relationships and innovation diffusion in SME networks: A content analysis approach," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(3), pages 565-579.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Connectivity; mobile phone data; human mobility; social networks; regional development;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B40 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Economic Methodology - - - General
    • J60 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - General
    • O18 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis; Housing; Infrastructure
    • R12 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; Interregional Trade (economic geography)

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2020_006. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Torben Schubert (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/circlse.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.