Travel diaries, GPS loggers and Smartphone applications in mapping the daily mobility patterns of students in an urban environment

Abstract

Mapping the daily spatial mobility of university students in an urban environment is the focus of this paper. It uses the city of České Budějovice in the Czech Republic as a case study, employing three different research tools – travel diaries, GPS loggers and Smartphone applications. We focus our attention on the analysis of spatial patterns of mobility using basic mobility indicators (distance, number of daily trips, time spent mobility), travel behaviours (use of transport modes) and the detection of time-space bundles (spaces of concentration of particular time-space trajectories) within the city. We identified four main time-space bundles. Then we compare the three main research methods according to their tracking accuracy and informative value. The Smartphone applications (using the A-GPS technology) provided the best results for the spatial mobility of respondents, although the travel diaries method is still unique due to the extent of some socio-demographic and transport characteristics.

24th International Colloquium on Regional Sciences

“…The real analytical practice shows, however, a significantly different level of detail of spatial data and thus limited possibilities of spatial analysis using only one territory of the metropolitan area, rich in information and with great granularity. On the other side, specific differences in population densities, time-space behaviour (Osman et al, 2020), mobility patterns of specific social groups (Kraft et al, 2020), work-commuting motivations (Vontroba et al, 2020) and a way of life in general between large cities and small towns in the hinterland emphasize the different interpretation of some phenomena. In this sense, it is necessary to distinguish between processes (albeit of the same meaning) taking place in a compact city and in suburbs.…”