Related papers: Mobile phone data's potential for informing infras…
Reliable data about the stock of physical capital and infrastructure in developing countries is typically very scarce. This is particular a problem for data at the subnational level where existing data is often outdated, not consistently…
Growth in leisure travel has become increasingly significant economically, socially, and environmentally. However, flexible but uncoordinated travel behaviors exacerbate traffic congestion. Mobile phone records not only reveal human…
Fires, lights at night and mobile phone activity have been separately used as proxy indicators of human activity with high potential for measuring human development. In this preliminary report, we develop some tools and methodologies to…
Data enables Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) to quantify the impact of their initiatives to themselves and to others. The increasing amount of data stored today can be seen as a direct consequence of the falling costs in obtaining it.…
Improving access to essential public services like healthcare and education is crucial for human development, particularly in rural Sub-Saharan Africa. However, limited reliable transportation and sparse public facilities present…
Nighttime lights satellite imagery has been used for decades as a uniform, global source of data for studying a wide range of socioeconomic factors. Recently, another more terrestrial source is producing data with similarly uniform global…
Smartphone apps provide a vitally important opportunity for monitoring human mobility, human experience of ubiquitous information aids, and human activity in our increasingly well-instrumented spaces. As wireless data capabilities move…
Urban population grows constantly. By 2050 two thirds of the world population will reside in urban areas. This growth is faster and more complex than the ability of cities to measure and plan for their sustainability. To understand what…
This chapter examines the possibility to analyze and compare human activities in an urban environment based on the detection of mobile phone usage patterns. Thanks to an unprecedented collection of counter data recording the number of…
Many households in developing countries lack formal financial histories, making it difficult for firms to extend credit, and for potential borrowers to receive it. However, many of these households have mobile phones, which generate rich…
Developing countries suffer from traffic congestion, poorly planned road/rail networks, and lack of access to public transportation facilities. This context results in an increase in fuel consumption, pollution level, monetary losses,…
The aim of this study is to demostrate that mobile phone usage data can be used to make predictions and find the best classification method for credit scoring even if the dataset is small (2,503 customers). We use different classification…
In low-income settings, the most critical piece of information for electric utilities is the anticipated consumption of a customer. Electricity consumption assessment is difficult to do in settings where a significant fraction of households…
The national census is an essential data source to support decision-making in many areas of public interest. However, this data may become outdated during the intercensal period, which can stretch up to several decades. We developed a…
Every day, billions of mobile network events (i.e. CDRs) are generated by cellular phone operator companies. Latent in this data are inspiring insights about human actions and behaviors, the discovery of which is important because…
We propose a generalizable framework for the population estimation of dense, informal settlements in low-income urban areas--so called 'slums'--using high-resolution satellite imagery. Precise population estimates are a crucial factor for…
Rapid urbanization places increasing stress on already burdened transportation systems, resulting in delays and poor levels of service. Billions of spatiotemporal call detail records (CDRs) collected from mobile devices create new…
Today's mobile phones are far from mere communication devices they were ten years ago. Equipped with sophisticated sensors and advanced computing hardware, phones can be used to infer users' location, activity, social setting and more. As…
Cell phone coverage and high-speed service gaps persist in rural areas in sub-Saharan Africa, impacting public access to mobile-based financial, educational, and humanitarian services. Improving maps of telecommunications infrastructure can…
Human mobility and other social activity patterns influence various aspects of society such as urban planning, traffic predictions, crisis resilience, and epidemic prevention. The behaviour of individuals, like their communication…