100,000 mobile phone users were anonymously tracked over a period of 6 months in Europe to gain a better understanding of human movement and behavior. Their physical location was recorded each time they made or received a call or text message and to ensure privacy, the phone number was encrypted with a 26 digit security code.
"The vast majority of people move around over a very short distance - around five to 10km," explained Professor Albert-Laszlo Barabasi, another member of the team.
"Then there were a few that moved a couple of hundred kilometres on a regular basis."
The results showed that most people's movements follow a precise mathematical relationship - known as a power law.
The research technique has a number of uses, from real-time traffic monitoring to incorporating sensors into the phone's hardware for air quality sampling. Professor John Cleland of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Disease has even suggested we could use the technology to monitor the spread of contagious diseases such as the Avian flu.
Full article: news.bbc.co.uk
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