The Spatial Accuracy of Mobile Positioning: Some experiences with Geographical Studies in Estonia

Abstract

This paper describes some aspects of mobile positioning accuracy when using mobile positioning data in geographical studies. The method used in Estonia is named the Social Positioning Method (SPM) and uses locations of mobile phones and the personal characteristics of phone owners for studying human behaviour. Positioning experiments conducted in Tallinn and Tartu since 2003 have shown that SPM data facilitates the successful analysis of the space-time behaviour of society. The calculations of theoretical positioning error based on 180 000 positioning measurements in the Estonian GSM network (CGI+TA positioning method) in 2004 showed that 61 percent of positioning points are accurate to within 1000 meters in urban areas and 53 percent are accurate to within 3000 meters in rural areas. Accuracy checks conducted using GPS showed that 52 percent of positioning points are accurate to within 400 meters in urban areas and 50 percent are accurate to within 2600 meters in rural areas. While some of the research findings are limited because of the low accuracy of the positioning data, many research directions, which use a smaller scale such as commuting and regional development studies are nevertheless very promising.