Global multi-layer network of human mobility

Abstract

Recent availability of geo-localized data capturing individual human activity together with the statistical data on international migration opened up unprecedented opportunities for a study on global mobility. In this paper, we consider it from the perspective of a multi-layer complex network, built using a combination of three datasets: Twitter, Flickr and official migration data. Those datasets provide different, but equally important insights on the global mobility – while the first two highlight short-term visits of people from one country to another, the last one – migration – shows the long-term mobility perspective, when people relocate for good. The main purpose of the paper is to emphasize importance of this multi-layer approach capturing both aspects of human mobility at the same time. On the one hand, we show that although the general properties of different layers of the global mobility network are similar, there are important quantitative differences among them. On the other hand, we demonstrate that consideration of mobility from a multi-layer perspective can reveal important global spatial patterns in a way more consistent with those observed in other available relevant sources of international connections, in comparison to the spatial structure inferred from each network layer taken separately.

Heterogeneity of Global and Local Connectivity in Spatial Network Structures of World Migration

“…Compared to more transient forms of global human mobility, such as tourism (Belyi et al, 2016), migratory movements are characterized by an enduring pattern due to their tendency to self-perpetuate via migrant networks (Hägerstrand, 1957, Palloni et al, 2001. This observation is consistent with the world systems theory, which sees nothing unprecedented in the post-1945 migratory movements compared to the early decades of that century.…”

“…Prior research in geography (Hägerstrand, 1957, Fotheringham, 1991, and more recently in network analysis, of internal (Maier and Vyborny, 2008) and international migration (Nogle, 1994, Davis et al, 2013, Tranos et al, 2012, Fagiolo and Mastrorillo, 2013 has examined extra-dyadic and meso-scale properties of migratory movements. Other studies have examined network properties of global migration in relation to global networks of short-term human mobility (Belyi et al, 2016), international trade (Fagiolo and Mastrorillo, 2014), and international flights and digital communication (Hristova et al, 2016). By integrating network and spatial considerations 1 in the context of globalization theories, we wish to extend past research through an examination of spatial network structures that emerge from multilateral and multiscale movements of people, the way these structures are shaped by relational, social, and spatial antecedents, and the way in which, in turn, they distinctively shape migration opportunities across the globe.…”

A complex network analysis of global tourism flows

“…Thus, for example, the extent to which existing migrant stocks can explain visiting friends and relatives travel has been studied in Provenzano and Baggio (2017). Belyi et al (2017) uses a different perspective, considering tourism travel (inferred from Flickr and Twitter social media communities) as representing short-term human mobility patterns as opposed to migration, which represents a long-term one.…”

Scaling of foreign attractiveness for countries and states

“…Different types of such data are now being increasingly utilized for estimating human mobility, including cell phone data [9,10,14,16], vehicle GPS traces [15,21] or credit card transactions [17,25]. However, so far geo-tagged social media was one of a few sources allowing to approach human mobility on a global scale [3,13,18]. Applications of those studies include diverse examples such as urban transportation [21], determining economical potential of the cities [24], land use classification methods [11,19], or regional delineation [1,20].…”

“…More detailed discussion on the importance of choosing the right home definition method can be found in[7] 2. Shapefiles are available at http://thematicmapping.org/downloads 3. Shapefiles are available at http://gadm.org/country 4.…”