Mobile phone data and urban mobility were at the forefront of the one-day workshop “Data Challenge: Mobile Phone Data” in Munich. This event brought together academic researchers from different disciplines and institutions and industry professionals to discuss the trends shaping our understanding of human mobility, the future of public transport, economic behavior, and the challenges associated with using mobile phone data in these endeavors.
The workshop started with Göran Kauermann and Sebastian Wichert giving a welcome address and a presentation of the BERD@NFDI initiative and the BERD Academy, which graciously organized and hosted the event at LMU. Shortly after that, the afternoon was filled with numerous exciting talks from industry leaders and academic researchers.
Martin Schurig from Telefonica Germany presented their Data anonymization infrastructure, which is key to the use of mobile phone data in EU countries with strict laws regarding data privacy. Georg Polzer, CEO of Teralytics, discussed their methods for analyzing mobility, detecting modes of transport from mobile phone data, and their product for public transport planning. Lorenz Ade from Destatis talked about internal research projects involving mobile phone data abd their application in official statistics.
The scientific talks were on a study of how COVID changed the selection of trip destinations by Rolf Moeckel (TUM), the impact of cheap public transport tickets on mobility and infrastructure by Jakob Losert (Uni Salzburg), the welfare effects of Germany’s Deutschlandticket by Maximilian Amberg (Uni Potsdam, and MCC). Victor Tuekam (LMU) talked about mobile phone data processing and modeling. Vladislav Kucher (Uni Mannheim) presented a study on store closure prediction using machine learning and mobile phone data, while Vlad Alexe (Babes-Bolya University) presented a study about the use of commuting data to using rapid economic transformation in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. The afternoon ended with a joint dinner at a local Munich restaurant, encouraging further exchange.
The workshop provided an open forum to discuss current research, methodological problems and their solutions and new ideas for working with such data. This initial gathering of stakeholders in the field has paved the way for future research endeavors and collaborations across disciplines, countries and institutions. We are grateful to all the participants for their active participation and the engaging discussions between the talks—a massive thank-you to BERD and everyone who contributed to making such a fantastic event happen. We are excited to see more events like this in the future.
Göran Kauermann,
Victor Tuekam,
Sebastian Wichert
