Use of cellphone technology in activity and travel data collection

Abstract

Data needs of developing countries, particularly in terms of activity and travel data collection, are explored in this poster. This proof-of-concept study revealed that it is indeed possible to obtain detailed individual travel behaviour data from cellphones. Although the results are potentially very useful for transport planning, retail analysis, etc., the research did reveal the need for significant data manipulation to eliminate measurement errors and derive useful transport planning data. For this study, 60 participants were tracked over a 48hour period, giving the location of the cellphone at 5-minute intervals