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Uncovering the digital divide and the physical divide in Senegal using mobile phone data

  • Song Gao
  • , Bo Yan
  • , Li Gong
  • , Blake Regalia
  • , Yiting Ju
  • , Yingjie Hu
  • University of California at Santa Barbara

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

5 Scopus citations

Abstract

In this research, we first aim at developing data analytics that can derive insights about how people from different regions communicate and connect via mobile phone calls and physical movements. We uncover the digital divide (geographical segregation of phone communication patterns) and the physical divide (geographical limits of human mobility) in Senegal. The research also demonstrates that the chosen spatial unit and temporal resolution can affect the community detection results of spatial interaction graphs when analyzing human mobility patterns and exploring urban dynamics in the mobile age. We find that the daily detection has generated a more stable partition structure than an hourly one, while monthly changes also exist over time. The presented framework can help identify patterns of spatial interaction in both cyberspace and physical space with phone call detailed records in some regions where census data acquisition is difficult, especially in African countries.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationAdvances in Geocomputation - Geocomputation 2015—The 13th International Conference
EditorsDaniel A. Griffith, Yongwan Chun, Denis J. Dean
PublisherSpringer Heidelberg
Pages143-151
Number of pages9
ISBN (Print)9783319227856
DOIs
StatePublished - 2017
Event13th International Conference on Advances in Geocomputation, Geocomputation 2015 - Dallas, United States
Duration: May 20 2015May 23 2015

Publication series

NameAdvances in Geographic Information Science
ISSN (Print)1867-2434
ISSN (Electronic)1867-2442

Conference

Conference13th International Conference on Advances in Geocomputation, Geocomputation 2015
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityDallas
Period05/20/1505/23/15

Keywords

  • Community detection
  • Digital divide
  • Mobile phone data
  • Physical divide
  • Spatial interaction

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