View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by RMIT Research Repository Visualization and analysis of mobile phone location data A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Matthew Kwan BSc Hons, MBA (Melb) School of Mathematical and Geospatial Sciences College of Science, Engineering and Health RMIT University July 2012 Declaration I certify that: a) except where due acknowledgement has been made, the work is that of the author alone; b) the work has not been submitted previously, in whole or in part, to qualify for any other academic award; c) the content of the thesis is the result of work which has been carried out since the official commencement date of the approved research program; d) any editorial work, paid or unpaid, carried out by a third party is acknowledged; e) ethics procedures and guidelines have been followed. Matthew Kwan Date ii Acknowledgements I would like to thank my primary and secondary supervisors, Colin Arrowsmith and William Cartwright, respectively. It all went very smoothly. iii Table of Contents Declaration.................................................................................................................................ii Acknowledgements...................................................................................................................iii Table of Contents......................................................................................................................iv List of Tables..........................................................................................................................viii List of Figures...........................................................................................................................ix List of Acronyms........................................................................................................................x Summary....................................................................................................................................1 1 Chapter One: Introduction........................................................................................................2 1.1 Introduction......................................................................................................................2 1.2 Background.......................................................................................................................2 1.3 Research questions...........................................................................................................3 1.4 Rationale...........................................................................................................................4 1.5 Methodology.....................................................................................................................5 1.5.1 Data collection..........................................................................................................5 1.5.2 Data analysis.............................................................................................................7 1.6 Conclusions......................................................................................................................8 2 Chapter Two: Literature review...............................................................................................9 2.1 Introduction......................................................................................................................9 2.2 Mobile landscapes............................................................................................................9 2.3 Cell accuracy..................................................................................................................11 2.4 Tracking using billing records........................................................................................12 2.5 Active tracking...............................................................................................................14 2.6 Road traffic monitoring..................................................................................................15 2.7 Visualization...................................................................................................................17 2.8 Visualizing static data.....................................................................................................18 2.9 Visualizing spatio-temporal data....................................................................................22 2.10 Time series and animations..........................................................................................24 2.11 Visualizing movement – routes and trajectories..........................................................25 2.11.1 Route clustering....................................................................................................27 2.12 Visualizing movement - flow maps..............................................................................28 2.12.1 Reducing visual clutter.........................................................................................29 2.13 Visualizing movement – other techniques...................................................................32 2.14 Conclusions..................................................................................................................33 3 Chapter Three: Tracking techniques......................................................................................35 3.1 Introduction....................................................................................................................35 3.2 Benefits...........................................................................................................................35 3.3 Evaluation criteria..........................................................................................................36 3.4 Existing techniques.........................................................................................................37 3.4.1 Direct observation...................................................................................................37 3.4.2 Self-reported surveys and interviews......................................................................37 3.4.3 Fixed sensors..........................................................................................................38 3.4.4 Identifying fixed sensors.........................................................................................38 3.4.5 GPS tracking devices..............................................................................................39 3.4.6 Mobile phones........................................................................................................40 3.4.7 Active querying of handsets...................................................................................42 3.4.8 Passive querying of handsets..................................................................................44 3.4.9 Location service providers......................................................................................46 iv 3.5 Summary of tracking techniques....................................................................................49 3.6 Conclusions....................................................................................................................50 4 Chapter Four: How a mobile phone network operates...........................................................52 4.1 Introduction....................................................................................................................52 4.2 Network structure...........................................................................................................52 4.3 Active tracking...............................................................................................................54 4.4 Passive tracking..............................................................................................................55 4.4.1 Real world examples...............................................................................................58 4.4.2 Sample rate.............................................................................................................60 4.5 Conclusions....................................................................................................................61 5 Chapter Five: Case study – Simulation of mobile phone data...............................................62 5.1 Introduction....................................................................................................................62 5.2 Background.....................................................................................................................62 5.3 Mobile phone cell locations............................................................................................62 5.4 Mobile phone carriers.....................................................................................................64 5.5 Cell coverage areas.........................................................................................................65 5.6 Cell identifiers................................................................................................................67 5.7 Virtual handsets..............................................................................................................69 5.8 Handset movements........................................................................................................72