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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. 32.4% 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%
8.5k
per year above
Top-10% rate
32.4%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
+59%
the tick is no change

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

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (2.5k and 894 works in 2022–2025).

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 China 2.5k works
  2. 2 United States 894 works
  3. 3 India 554 works
  4. 4 Japan 325 works
  5. 5 United Kingdom 264 works
  6. 6 Germany 236 works
  7. 7 Italy 231 works
  8. 8 South Korea 184 works
  9. 9 Canada 176 works
  10. 10 Australia 149 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: 45.4%United States: 16.2%India: 10.0%Japan: 5.9%6 others listed: 22.5%45%largest
China2,511 · 45.4%United States894 · 16.2%India554 · 10.0%Japan325 · 5.9%6 others listed1,241 · 22.5%

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

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

By volume in 2022–2025, Beijing Jiaotong University publishes the most Human Mobility and Location-Based Analysis research, followed by Tongji University and Tsinghua University.

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Beijing Jiaotong University China 66 works
  2. 2 Tongji University China 61 works
  3. 3 Tsinghua University China 56 works
  4. 4 Southeast University China 52 works
  5. 5 Wuhan University China 50 works
  6. 6 The University of Tokyo Japan 42 works
  7. 7 Peking University China 40 works
  8. 8 Hong Kong Polytechnic University Hong Kong 37 works
  9. 9 Central South University China 33 works
  10. 10 Zhejiang University China 33 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 Rajkumar Buyya, Philip S. Yu and Alex Pentland.

  1. 1 Rajkumar Buyya 7.8k citations
  2. 2 Philip S. Yu 6.6k citations
  3. 3 Alex Pentland 6k citations
  4. 4 Jiawei Han 5.2k citations
  5. 5 Xuemin Shen 5.1k citations

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

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

The largest centres of Human Mobility and Location-Based Analysis research in 2022–2025 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 and Hong Kong.

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Beijing China 579 works
  2. 2 Shanghai China 183 works
  3. 3 Nanjing China 177 works
  4. 4 Wuhan China 150 works
  5. 5 Tokyo Japan 133 works
  6. 6 Guangzhou China 108 works
  7. 7 Chengdu China 97 works
  8. 8 Hong Kong China 96 works
  9. 9 Hangzhou China 95 works
  10. 10 Xi'an China 90 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. Pok Fu LamHK · 32.5 works5.0×
  2. Hong KongCN · 96.1 works3.8×
← less than its size predictsmore →

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, Beijing Jiaotong University, Hong Kong Polytechnic University and University of Hong Kong 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%25%50%75%mean 42.52%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →Beijing Jiaotong University: 66, 31.4%Hong Kong Polytechnic University: 37, 44.1%University of Hong Kong: 32, 49.1%Chinese University of Hong Kong: 15, 60.2%Wuhan University: 50, 35.7%Tsinghua University: 56, 43.5%Southeast University: 52, 31.4%City University of Hong Kong: 13, 51.8%Peking University: 40, 50.3%Tongji University: 61, 27.7%Chinese University o…University of Hong K…Hong Kong Polytechni…Beijing Jiaotong Uni…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the table below. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Beijing Jiaotong University China 73.131.4%13.9×66 +166.0%
2Hong Kong Polytechnic University Hong Kong 72.944.1%5.6×37 +235.9%
3University of Hong Kong Hong Kong 65.549.1%5.0×32 +92.0%
4Chinese University of Hong Kong Hong Kong 64.860.2%2.8×15 +197.1%
5Wuhan University China 62.835.7%5.3×50 +307.8%
6Tsinghua University China 61.143.5%3.7×56 +146.0%
7Southeast University China 60.931.4%5.0×52 +335.0%
8City University of Hong Kong Hong Kong 60.151.8%2.9×13 +191.7%
9Peking University China 59.650.3%3.4×40 +118.5%
10Tongji University China 59.327.7%6.2×61 +142.6%

Universities only. Score blends excellence (30%), specialisation (25%), size (20%), growth (15%) and international reach (10%), 2015–2022; growth compares 2010–14 with 2015–19.

Is Human Mobility and Location-Based Analysis research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 59% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2022. The fastest-growing topics are Human Mobility and Location-Based Analysis.

19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

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

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.