Dennis Frenchman Mobile Landscapes Using Location

Thispapermightbeapre-copy-editingorapost-printauthor-produced.pdfofanarticleacceptedforpublication.Forthedefinitivepublisher-authenticatedversion,pleasereferdirectlytopublishinghouse’sarchivesystem.MobileLandscapes:UsingLocationDatafromCellPhonesforUrbanAnalysisCarloRattiRiccardoM.PulselliSarahWilliamsDennisFrenchman1MobileLandscapes:usinglocationdatafromcell-phonesforurbananalysisCarloRatti1(1),RiccardoMariaPulselli(2),SarahWilliams(1),DennisFrenchman(1)(1)SENSEableCityLaboratory,MassachusettsInstituteofTechnology,Cambridge,MA,USA(2)DepartmentofChemicalandBiosystemSciences,UniversityofSiena,ItalyABSTRACT:Thetechnologyfordeterminingthegeographiclocationofcellphonesandotherhand-helddevicesisbecomingincreasinglyavailable.Itisopeningthewaytoawiderangeofapplications,collectivelyreferredtoasLocationBasedServices(LBS),thatareprimarilyaimedatindividualusers.However,ifdeployedtoretrieveaggregateddataincities,LBScouldbecomeapowerfultoolforurbananalysis.Thispaperaimstoreviewandintroducethepotentialofthistechnologytotheurbanplanningcommunity.Inaddition,itpresentsthe‘MobileLandscapes’project:anapplicationinthemetropolitanareaofMilan,Italy,basedonthegeographicalmappingofcellphoneusageatdifferenttimesoftheday.Theresultsenableagraphicrepresentationoftheintensityofurbanactivitiesandtheirevolutionthroughspaceandtime.Finally,anumberoffutureapplicationsarediscussedandtheirpotentialforurbanstudiesandplanningisassessed.1Introduction“Intoday’sDublin,youwouldn’tneedanovelist’somnisciencetofollowLeopoldBloom,StephenDedalus,andBuckMulliganaroundthecity;youcouldjusttracktheircellphoneusage.AndifLeopoldcouldgetaccesstothelogs,hecouldfigureoutpreciselywhatMollywasupto.”(Mitchell,2003)Whetheryouareatechno-enthusiastornot,Mitchell’s(2003)e-topiahascertainlybecomearealityinthefieldofmobilecommunications.Justlookatdatafromtheboomingmobilecommunicationsindustry.AccordingtotheEuropeanInformationTechnologyObservatory(EITO,2004),cellphonesubscriptionsinWesternEuropereached350millionin2003(157millionintheUSA).InItaly,wherethecasestudiespresentedinthisarticlearelocated,thenumberofusersisapproximately54million(EITO,2004);i.e.,thesecondlargestmarketin1Addressforcorrespondence:SENSEableCityLaboratory,Room10-485,MassachusettsInstituteofTechnology,77,MassachusettsAvenue,Cambridge,MA,02139USA2EuropeafterGermany.Furthermore,withatotalpopulationof57million,Italyhasoneofthehighestpenetrationsofmobiledevicesintheworld.Whyshouldtheurbanplanningcommunitybeinterestedintheaforementioneddata?First,thewidespreaddeploymentofmobilecommunications,supportedbypersonalhandheldelectronics,ishavingasignificantimpactonurbanlife.Peoplearechangingtheirsocialandworkinghabitsbecauseofthenewtechnology(Rheingold,2002).Activitiesthatoncerequiredafixedlocationandconnectioncannowbeachievedwithhigherflexibility,resultingintheusers’abilitytoactandmovemorefreely(forananalysisinthecorporateworkingdomain,seeDuffy,1997).Asaconsequence,urbandynamicsarebecomingmorecomplexandrequirenewanalysistechniques.Second,andmoreimportantlyinthiscontext,databasedonthelocationofmobiledevicescouldpotentiallybecomeoneofthemostexcitingnewsourcesofinformationforurbananalysis.Locationaldataarebecomingincreasinglyavailableandtheirapplicationsarecurrentlyahottopicinthecellphoneindustry(seeforinstance).TheyaregenerallyreferredtoasLocationBasedServices(LBS)–value-addedservicesforindividualsintheformofnewutilitiesembeddedintheirpersonaldevices.Examples,bothimplementedandspeculative,includesystemsprovidinginformationaboutone’ssurroundings(neighbouringrestaurants,museums,emergencyshelters,andsoon);distributedchatlinesaimedatallowingpeoplewithsimilarprofilestoencountereachotherinspace,viaakindoftechnologicallyaugmentedserendipity;and‘digitaltapestries’thatattachdifferenttypesofinformationtophysicalspaces(seesectionsbelowfordetailedreferences).Andyet,surprisinglyenough,aggregatedlocationaldatahavenotbeenusedtodescribeurbansystems.Researcheffortsintheareaaresparse;thescientificliteraturemostlyignoresthemessuchasthemappingofthecellphoneactivityincitiesorthevisualizationofurbanmetabolismbasedonhandsets’movements.Howcouldthisbe?Themostreasonableassumptionisthatscholarlyresearchhasbeenhamperedsofarbythedifficultyofaccessingrawdata.Also,inmostcases,meredataisnotenough,andthedevelopmentofad-hocsoftwareandsystemsinpartnershipwithcellphonecompaniesisrequired.Inthisstudy,theresearchteamhashadtheopportunitytoestablishapartnershipwithaleadingmobilenetworkoperator,thusgainingaprivilegedinsightintohowaggregateddatafrommobiledevicescanrevealurbansystems.ThemetropolitanareaofMilan,Italy,hasbeenselectedastheinitialcasestudy;thiscombinesanumberofinterestingplanningfeatureswithoneofthemostdevelopedmarketsformobilephones.Resultsseemtoopenthewaytoanewapproachtotheunderstandingofurbansystems,whichwehavetermed“MobileLandscapes.”MobileLandscapescouldgivenewanswerstolong-standingquestionsinarchitectureand3urbanplanning-Howtomapvehicleoriginsanddestinations?Howtounderstandthepatternsofpedestrianmovement?Howtohighlightcritic