title: New approaches to human mobility: using mobile phones for demographic research.
abstract: This article explores new methods for gathering and analyzing spatially rich demographic data using mobile phones. It describes a pilot study (the Human Mobility Project) in which volunteers around the world were successfully recruited to share GPS and cellular tower information on their trajectories and respond to dynamic, location-based surveys using an open-source Android application. The pilot study illustrates the great potential of mobile phone methodology for moving spatial measures beyond residential census units and investigating a range of important social phenomena, including the heterogeneity of activity spaces, the dynamic nature of spatial segregation, and the contextual dependence of subjective well-being.
authors.affiliation: Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and Office of Population Research, Princeton University, 284 Wallace Hall, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA. jrpalmer@princeton.edu
authors.forename: John R B
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Palmer
authors.forename: Thomas J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Espenshade
authors.forename: Frederic
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bartumeus
authors.forename: Chang Y
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.forename: Necati Ercan
authors.initials: NE
authors.lastname: Ozgencil
authors.forename: Kathleen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D040421:Cell Phone; D003625:Data Collection / Q000379:methods*; D003710:Demography / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D040362:Geographic Information Systems; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011157:Population Dynamics / Q000639:trends*; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D055815:Young Adult