Contrasting social and non-social sources of predictability in human mobility

Abstract

Social structures influence human behavior, including their movement patterns. Indeed, latent information about an individual’s movement can be present in the mobility patterns of both acquaintances and strangers. We develop a “colocation” network to distinguish the mobility patterns of an ego’s social ties from those not socially connected to the ego but who arrive at a location at a similar time as the ego. Using entropic measures, we analyze and bound the predictive information of an individual’s mobility pattern and its flow to both types of ties. While the former generically provide more information, replacing up to 94% of an ego’s predictability, significant information is also present in the aggregation of unknown colocators, that contain up to 85% of an ego’s predictive information. Such information flow raises privacy concerns: individuals sharing data via mobile applications may be providing actionable information on themselves as well as others whose data are absent.

Temporal visitation patterns of points of interest in cities on a planetary scale: a network science and machine learning approach

“…LBSN provide valuable information on the interaction of people among themselves, as well as the physical places where these interactions occur. This interplay has been explored in studies of urban mobility 20 , human behavior 21,22 , social interactions 23 and encounter networks 24 .…”

Urban Mobility

“…Due to the striking regularity of daily commutes, the emergence of "familiar strangers" in a tight-knit contact network was observed, with crucial consequences on the impact of human behavior on diffusion/spreading processes. More recent studies have compared explicitly social relations with mobility behavior [21,22]. For example, the Copenhagen network study [21] has found striking differences in geospatial versus social entropy in a population of 1000 university students, for example uncovering "party nights" that are characterized by geospatial exploration but conservative social behavior.…”

Don't follow the leader: Independent thinkers create scientific innovation

“…"To truly make an apple pie from scratch you must first invent the universe"-a quote attributed to Carl Sagan [1]-illustrates the idea that the process by which individuals create is contingent upon the elements on which that creation is based. Whether creating a new piece of music, going about daily routines, or engaging in scientific research, people's actions are founded in the information, experiences, and relationships that they have establish by themselves and through others [2][3][4][5]. Each person has their own basis of knowledge that stems from their own lived experiences while also existing in a network of relationships through which they share experiences and knowledge with each other, thereby informing a collective understanding among a network of connected individuals [6].…”