Pervasive and Mobile Computing ( IF 4.3 ) Pub Date : 2020-09-19 , DOI: 10.1016/j.pmcj.2020.101263 Fabio Ricciato , Giampaolo Lanzieri , Albrecht Wirthmann , Gerdy Seynaeve
The concept of present population is gaining increasing attention in official statistics. One possible approach to measure present population exploits data collected by Mobile Network Operators (MNO), from simple Call Detail Records (CDR) to more informative and complex signalling records. Such data, collected primarily for network operation processes, can be repurposed to infer patterns of human mobility. Two decades of research literature have produced several case studies, mostly focused on to CDR data, and a variety of ad-hoc methodologies tailored to specific datasets. Moving beyond the stage of explorative research, the regular production of official statistics across different MNO requires a more systematic approach to methodological development. Towards this aim, Eurostat and other members of the European Statistical System are working towards the definition of a general Reference Methodological Framework for processing MNO data for official statistics. In this contribution we report on the methodological aspects related to the estimation of present population density, for which we present a general and modular methodological structure that generalises previous proposals found in the academic literature. Along the way, we define a number of specific research problems requiring further attention by the research community. We stress the importance of comparing different methodological options at various points in the data workflow, e.g. in the geolocation of individual observations and in the inference method. Finally, we present illustrative results from a case-study based on real signalling data from a European operational network, complemented by numerical results from a simple simulation scenario.
中文翻译:
建立从移动网络运营商数据估计当前人口密度的方法框架
当前人口的概念在官方统计中越来越受到关注。一种测量当前人口的可能方法是利用移动网络运营商(MNO)收集的数据,从简单的呼叫详细记录(CDR)到信息更丰富,更复杂的信令记录。主要为网络运行过程收集的此类数据可以重新用于推断人员流动的模式。二十年的研究文献已经产生了几个案例研究,主要集中在CDR数据上,以及针对特定数据集量身定制的各种临时方法。超越探索性研究的阶段,跨不同MNO的官方统计数据的定期编制需要一种更系统的方法开发方法。为了实现这一目标,欧盟统计局和欧洲统计系统的其他成员正在努力为处理官方统计数据的MNO数据定义通用参考方法框架。在此贡献中,我们报告了与估计当前人口密度有关的方法论方面,为此,我们提出了一个通用的模块化方法论结构,以概括学术文献中的先前提议。在此过程中,我们定义了一些特定的研究问题,需要研究界进一步关注。我们强调在数据工作流中各个点(例如在单个观测值的地理位置和推理方法中)比较不同方法选项的重要性。最后,