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Human Mobility and Location-Based Analysis

Human Mobility and Location-Based Analysis is a research topic within Transportation. Science Explorer counts 26k research works in it since 1957. 9.9% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on understanding human mobility patterns using various sources of data such as GPS, mobile phone, and smart card data. It explores topics related to transportation modes, urban analysis, population movements, and travel behavior. The research aims to uncover the spatial and temporal dynamics of human mobility at both individual and collective levels.

  • Human Mobility
  • GPS Data
  • Urban Analysis
  • Transportation Modes
  • Mobile Phone Data
  • Social Sensing
  • Smart Card Data
  • Population Movements
  • Travel Behavior
  • Location-Based Data
Research works
26k
fractional, since 1957
In the world top 10%
2.6k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.9%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+6%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
46% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Human Mobility and Location-Based Analysis

Which countries lead Human Mobility and Location-Based Analysis research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (2.9k and 986 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 2.9k works
  2. 2 United States 986 works
  3. 3 India 631 works
  4. 4 Japan 351 works
  5. 5 United Kingdom 297 works
  6. 6 Germany 264 works
  7. 7 Italy 256 works
  8. 8 South Korea 198 works
  9. 9 Canada 195 works
  10. 10 Australia 163 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

China: 46.4%United States: 15.8%India: 10.1%Japan: 5.6%6 others listed: 22.0%46%largest
China2,896 · 46.4%United States986 · 15.8%India631 · 10.1%Japan351 · 5.6%6 others listed1,373 · 22.0%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Human Mobility and Location-Based Analysis research?

By volume in 2022-now, Chinese Academy of Sciences publishes the most Human Mobility and Location-Based Analysis research, followed by Beijing Jiaotong University and Tongji University.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 87 works
  2. 2 Beijing Jiaotong UniversityChina 72 works
  3. 3 Tongji UniversityChina 66 works
  4. 4 Tsinghua UniversityChina 61 works
  5. 5 Southeast UniversityChina 55 works
  6. 6 Wuhan UniversityChina 54 works
  7. 7 Peking UniversityChina 48 works
  8. 8 The University of TokyoJapan 46 works
  9. 9 Hong Kong Polytechnic UniversityChina 41 works
  10. 10 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 39 works

Who are the leading researchers in Human Mobility and Location-Based Analysis?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Human Mobility and Location-Based Analysis include Simon Iain Hay, Martin McKee and Xiaogang Wang.

  1. 1 Simon Iain Hay United States 452k citations
  2. 2 Martin McKee United Kingdom 270k citations
  3. 3 Xiaogang Wang China 260k citations
  4. 4 Li Fei-Fei United States 225k citations
  5. 5 Albert-Ĺaszló Barabási United States 223k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Human Mobility and Location-Based Analysis?

The most cited paper in Human Mobility and Location-Based Analysis is "RADAR: an in-building RF-based user location and tracking system" (Paramvir Bahl, Venkat N. Padmanabhan, 2002), with 8,388 citations. Next come "Understanding individual human mobility patterns" (6,165) and "Communication-Efficient Learning of Deep Networks from Decentralized Data" (5,182).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 RADAR: an in-building RF-based user location and tracking system Paramvir Bahl, Venkat N. Padmanabhan Conference paper 7 Nov 2002 8,388
2 Understanding individual human mobility patterns Marta Claudia González, César A. Hidalgo, Albert-Ĺaszló Barabási · Nature Open access 4 Jun 2008 6,165
3 Communication-Efficient Learning of Deep Networks from Decentralized Data H. Brendan McMahan, Eider Moore, Daniel Ramage et al. · arXiv (Cornell University) PreprintOpen access 17 Feb 2016 5,182
4 Federated Learning: Challenges, Methods, and Future Directions Tian Li, Anit Kumar Sahu, Ameet Talwalkar et al. · IEEE Signal Processing Magazine Open access May 2020 5,060
5 From Louvain to Leiden: guaranteeing well-connected communities Traag, V.A., Ludo Waltman, Nees Jan van Eck · Leiden Repository (Leiden University) 2019 4,331
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Human Mobility and Location-Based Analysis research done?

The largest centres of Human Mobility and Location-Based Analysis research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Shanghai (China), Nanjing (China) and Wuhan (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Pok Fu Lam.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 631 works
  2. 2 ShanghaiChina 199 works
  3. 3 NanjingChina 189 works
  4. 4 WuhanChina 163 works
  5. 5 TokyoJapan 143 works
  6. 6 GuangzhouChina 117 works
  7. 7 Hong KongChina 106 works
  8. 8 ChengduChina 105 works
  9. 9 HangzhouChina 103 works
  10. 10 Xi'anChina 101 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. Pok Fu LamCN · 36.2 works5.0×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Human Mobility and Location-Based Analysis than the world average.

See Human Mobility and Location-Based Analysis on the map

Where is the best place to study Human Mobility and Location-Based Analysis?

Among universities, judged by research, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, University of Hong Kong and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%mean 25.63%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Chinese University o…Hong Kong University…University of Hong K…Hong Kong Polytechni…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Hong Kong Polytechnic UniversityChina 78.823.1%6.3×41 +28.0%
2University of Hong KongChina 77.324.1%5.2×36 +68.0%
3Hong Kong University of Science and TechnologyChina 74.424.8%7.3×23 +39.4%
4Chinese University of Hong KongChina 73.031.3%3.2×18 +14.6%
5National University of SingaporeSingapore 69.530.0%2.6×23 +14.2%
6Peking UniversityChina 68.519.8%3.1×48 +11.7%
7Beijing Jiaotong UniversityChina 67.416.5%15.8×72 +10.4%
8City University of Hong KongChina 67.129.3%3.3×14 +14.9%
9Tsinghua UniversityChina 67.025.6%3.5×61 -12.0%
10Nanyang Technological UniversitySingapore 63.531.8%3.1×18 -22.6%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Human Mobility and Location-Based Analysis, country by country

Is Human Mobility and Location-Based Analysis research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 6% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2022. The fastest-growing topics are Human Mobility and Location-Based Analysis.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Human Mobility and Location-Based Analysis as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.037% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%0.060%Human Mobility and Location-Based Analysis0.035% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Human Mobility and Location-Based Analysis over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Human Mobility and Location-Based Analysis9.8% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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