SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL ANALYSIS OF HUMAN MOVEMENTS AND APPLICATIONS FOR DISASTER RESPONSE MANAGEMENT UTILIZING CELL PHONE USAGE DATA

Abstract. As cell phone usage becomes a norm in our daily lives, analysis and application of the data has become part of various research fields. This study focuses on the application of cell phone usage data to disaster response management. Cell phones work as a communication link between emergency responders and victims during and after a major disaster. This study recognizes that there are two kinds of disasters, one with an advance warning, and one without an advance warning. Different movement distance between a day with a blizzard (advanced warning) and a normal weather day was identified. In the scenario of a day with an extreme event without advanced warning (earthquake), factors that alter the phone users' movements were analyzed. Lastly, combining both cases, a conceptual model of human movement factors is proposed. Human movements consist of four factors that are push factors, movement-altering factors, derived attributes and constraint factors. Considering each category of factors in case of emergency, it should be necessary that we prepare different kinds of emergency response plans depending on the characteristics of a disaster.