Using Mobile Phone Location Data to Develop External Trip Models

This paper explores the use of passively collected data on the location of mobile phones in the development of external travel models, which capture trips to, from, and through an area. The data were collected 24 h a day for 1 month during May 2013 for the North Carolina Department of Transportation. The data cover the French Broad River Metropolitan Planning Organization and surrounding counties in North Carolina. This paper details the format of the data collected and the required processing and cleaning to support the development of the external trip models. The process for developing a through-trip table and estimating external trip interchanges in the region is presented, along with validation techniques for both. The results of this effort show that passively collected mobile phone data can be a good source of local information for developing external trip models.