Movement Patterns

Movement pattern analysis examines sequences of location observations—GPSGPSThe Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite-based navigation system operated by the U.S. Space Force that prov... traces, cell tower pings, transit tap-ins—to uncover the spatial and temporal regularities in how people and vehicles navigate their environments. Rather than analyzing individual trips, it identifies aggregate patterns: common corridors, peak travel times, origin-destination flows, and habitual route choices.

Raw mobility dataMobility DataMobility data consists of anonymized location observations from mobile devices that capture how people move through g... is cleaned, segmented into trips, and aggregated across many individuals to reveal statistically significant patterns. Clustering algorithms group similar trajectories, while flow visualization techniques such as origin-destination matrices and desire-line maps illustrate dominant movement corridors. Temporal analysis reveals how patterns shift by time of day, day of week, and season—morning commutes versus weekend leisure trips, for example.

Transportation planners use movement patterns to justify new transit routes, identify congestion bottlenecks, and model the impact of infrastructure changes. Retailers analyze movement corridors to site stores along high-traffic routes. Urban designers use pedestrian movement patterns to plan crosswalks, plazas, and wayfinding systems. Public health researchers study movement patterns to model disease transmission and evaluate social distancing compliance. Movement pattern analysis transforms raw location traces into strategic intelligence about how populations use geographic space, enabling smarter infrastructure, commerce, and policy decisions.