Mobile phone data for population estimates and for mobility and commuting pattern analyses

Abstract

The use of mobile phone data (MPD) for statistical production has been widely explored in the past decade. In official statistics, MPD can be used to supplement and enrich the information available through administrative data and social surveys, taking advantage of the richness of MPD both in terms of timeliness and greater spatial availability. The National Statistical Institute (Istat) has been undertaking this investigation some years ago, particularly regarding population density estimation and small-scale mobility analysis.
In this contribution, we analyze the usability and potential of MPD, highlighting the stages at which MPDs can augment the information already available through administrative data and social surveys. First, we assess the reliability of MPDs through comparison with official estimates. In addition, to analyze and understand people's spatio-temporal behavior, it is important to better understand the location of MPDs, i.e., information about the geographic reference of cell phones during their activity. Finally, we highlight the assumptions underlying our elaborations, as well as additional potentials and limitations of the available data.