Human Mobility Modeling from Cellular Network Data

Speaker: Ramon Caceres, AT&T Labs

Abstract:

Models of human mobility have broad applicability in fields such as urban planning, ecology, and epidemiology. Cellular telephone networks can shed light on human movements cheaply and on a large scale. We have analyzed anonymous cellphone locations to characterize how large populations move in metropolitan areas such as New York and Los Angeles. Our results include range of travel, important places, commuting carbon footprints, commuting routes, and catchment areas. We have also developed models that generate realistic sequences of locations and times for arbitrary numbers of synthetic people moving across metropolitan-scale regions. Finally, we have modified our models to satisfy the rigorous requirements of differential privacy while preserving accuracy.

Bio:

Ramon Caceres is a Lead Member of Technical Staff at AT&T Labs. His research interests include mobile and ubiquitous computing, human mobility, wireless networking, virtualization, security, and privacy. He is an IEEE Fellow and an ACM Distinguished Scientist. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley.