Visualization of urban mobility data can facilitate the analysis and the decision-making process by public managers. However, mobility datasets tend to be very large and pose several challenges to the use of visualization, such as algorithm scalability and data occlusion. One approach to solve this problem is trail bundling, which groups motion trails that are spatially close in a simplified representation. This paper presents the results of adapting and using a recent bundling technique on a big dataset of urban mobility in São Paulo. The results show that bundling allows the visualization of various mobility patterns in the city.

Internet-based technologies such as IoT, GPS-based systems, and cellular networks enable the collection of geolocated mobility data of millions of people in large metropolitan areas. In addition, large, public datasets are made available on the Internet by open government programs, providing ways for citizens, NGOs, scientists, and public managers to perform a multitude of data analysis with the goal of better understanding the city dynamics to provide means for evidence-based public policymaking. However, it is challenging to visualize huge amounts of data from mobility datasets. Plotting raw trajectories on a map often causes data occlusion, impairing the visual analysis. Displaying the multiple attributes that these trajectories come with is an even larger challenge. One approach to solve this problem is trail bundling, which groups motion trails that are spatially close in a simplified representation. In this paper, we augment a recent bundling technique to support multi-attribute trail datasets for the visual analysis of urban mobility. Our case study is based on the travel survey from the Sao Paulo Metropolitan Area, which is one of the most intense traffic areas in the world. The results show that bundling helps the identification and analysis of various mobility patterns for different data attributes, such as peak hours, social strata, and transportation modes.

Internet-based technologies such as IoT, GPS-based systems, and cellular networks enable the collection of geolocated mobility data of millions of people in large metropolitan areas. In addition, large, public datasets are made available on the Internet by open government programs, providing ways for citizens, NGOs, scientists, and public managers to perform a multitude of data analysis with the goal of better understanding the city dynamics to provide means for evidence-based public policymaking. However, it is challenging to visualize huge amounts of data from mobility datasets. Plotting raw trajectories on a map often causes data occlusion, impairing the visual analysis. Displaying the multiple attributes that these trajectories come with is an even larger challenge. One approach to solve this problem is trail bundling, which groups motion trails that are spatially close in a simplified representation. In this paper, we augment a recent bundling technique to support multi-attribute trail datasets for the visual analysis of urban mobility. Our case study is based on the travel survey from the São Paulo Metropolitan Area, which is one of the most intense traffic areas in the world. The results show that bundling helps the identification and analysis of various mobility patterns for different data attributes, such as peak hours, social strata, and transportation modes.