The use of mobile phone data in transport planning

Abstract

The paper offers a historical review of the emergent use of individual location data from mobile phones in the field of transport planning that occurred over the past two decades. It identifies four key areas of development: 1) providing traffic information, 2) replacing the traditional data for transport planning, 3) enhancing our understanding of travel behaviour, and 4) validating transport models. It assesses the appropriate roles for mobile phone data in transport planning and suggests that the extraction of traffic information, the construction of origin-destination data, and transit route design have particularly practical implications for cities in the developing countries.