Transforming Mobile Data to Measure Mobility, Geographic Inequality, and Interregional Linkages in the German Social Market Economy 2.0

Tasks

Do people come back to the cities after the pandemic? What does this mean for mobility patterns in agglomeration areas and thus local emissions and public transport as well as the use of scarce land and the overall structure of cities? How strong are economic exchange and social ties between regions within Germany and how does rapid technological change affect the regional division of labor and consumption? Do people change their mobility behavior in the light of the current climate debate and which measures encourage it?

Methods

Research using mobility data as a measure of economic activity and social cohesion can help answer these highly policy-relevant questions (and many more). Unfortunately, processed, regionally detailed and timely mobility data for Germany have so far been available only on a small scale, at prohibitively high prices or without sufficient methodological documentation. A cooperation with a large mobile phone company in Germany offers the unique opportunity to process large amounts of anonymized mobile phone data with the help of modern data science methods, to identify mobility patterns and to conduct research in general. The aim of this pilot project is also to work out which further personnel and infrastructural investments and changes the ifo Institute will have to make in order to be able to regularly carry out such demanding and promising Big Data projects of this size in the future. 

Data and Other Sources

Anonymized mobile phone data, official statistics, administrative geographical data