Capturing Urban Dynamics with Scarce Check-In Data

The authors describe their analysis of three months' worth of collected human-physical environment interactions (Foursquare check-in) data for a medium-sized city in Greece. Their analysis shows that although the data generated by the citizens is scarce (on average, fewer than 10 users checked in at any time during the day), they could use it to build a good model of the city's dynamics. The authors discuss how this information can be used to guide visitors in the city or to provide innovative services for the city's inhabitants using the cloud.