It's crazy how much Transport for London can learn about us from our mobile data

[Mawkie]

I stumbled upon an interesting blog this morning describing the way O2 sell their consumer's anonymosed details and the way TfL use that data to help plan services. It's not particularly controversial, not meant to be a talking point as such, but putting it out there for any of you interested in statistics and to see how multiple data sets combine to give comprehensive pictures of people.

It's crazy how much Transport for London can learn about us from our mobile data

Big Brother meets Big Data

takes.jamesomalley.co.uk

"....something that EE, O2 and Vodafone all do, but don’t really love to shout about is sell anonymised, aggregated data on our physical movements to local authorities, transit agencies and any other companies with a chequebook large enough.

And that’s why today I’m going to tell you about some of the really mad things that Transport for London (TfL) can figure out about us by using our location data, provided by the O2 mobile network.

Using the Freedom of Information Act, I’ve managed to obtain the Data Protection Impact Assessment, and the Statement of Work for TfL’s Project EDMOND – which stands for “Estimating Demand from Mobile Network Data”"

 

[endicomark69@g]

Very interesting - thanks for this.

 

[Bald Rick]

same data being used extensively on the national network.

 

[Horizon22]

Ditto for any organisational who has your digital details - retail habits for instance. It is clear that its "us" because of course the data is anonymised and aggregated (as the report says).

It's interesting though, especially when related to travel patterns. Many companies build transport models but this is just another more accurate, real-time element of it.

 

[Bald Rick]

It‘s fascinating seeing the data, it is dispellign some long held assumptions and also showing the choices passengers make during and after disruption (planned and unplanned).

 

[jon0844]

Many years ago, Vodafone did a deal with TomTom to follow the movement of mobile phones - and by working out how many users were on or near roads, and how long they all took to get from one place to another, they could work out where it was most likely cars were being delayed.

It was very clever, looking at average speeds so as not to get confused by people on foot, and with the vast number of users it was pretty damn accurate and meant a delay on a relatively small road in a small village could be reported as quickly as a highways agency reporting a delay on a motorway.

To this day I think mobiles are tracked to provide valuable data on how people get around. At no time does the individual user get identified, nor would a company like TfL or a mapping company really care. That said, Waze will direct advertising to people when they drive by certain places (but only shows when a vehicle is not in motion, so like being stopped at traffic lights).