Temporary Migration Flow Inference and Analysis From Perspective of Mobile Phone Network Data

Temporary migration trips are circulatory journeys that can be associated with tourism as these trips aren’t made on a regular basis. They’re often left unmeasured due to limited data sources, and thereby missing from regional and national travel demand models. This article presents a methodology for inferring large-scale temporary migration trips from mobile phone network data or Call Detail Record (CDR), and analyzing their spatial determinants based on urban assets derived from Google Places data. As a case study, CDR of mobile phone users in Portugal was used in our study from which insightful statistical patterns of both intra and inter-district flows were observed. Analysis of spatial determinants shows that places for leisure and population density are among the top influential factors that attract inflows into the district, while places for public service such as city hall, local government office, courthouse, and cemetery are negative urban assets for attracting district’s inflows. The presented methodology and insights gained from our analysis can be useful for transport and urban planners to establish better informed travel demand modeling and urban planning strategies.