AllAboard: Visual exploration of cellphone mobility data to optimise public transport

Abstract

The deep penetration of mobile phones offers cities the ability to opportunistically monitor citizens' mobility and use datadriven insights to better plan and manage services. In this context, transit operators can leverage pervasive mobile sensing to better match observed demand for travel with their service offerings. In this paper we present AllAboard, an intelligent tool that analyses cellphone data to helps city authorities in exploring urban mobility and optimizing public transport. An interactive user interface allows transit operators to explore the travel demand in both space and time, evaluate the quality of service that a transit network provides to the citizens, and test scenarios for transit network improvements. The system has been tested using real telecommunication data for the city of Abidjan, Ivory Coast, and evaluated from a data mining, optimisation and user prospective. © 2014 ACM.