KT announced on the 28th that it has developed a ‘Capital Area Mobility Data’ leveraging mobile phone base station signal information. This data will be provided to the city of Seoul to support the establishment of innovative policies aimed at improving the quality of life for urban residents in areas like transportation, housing, and urban space restructuring.
The data released this time is the result of collaboration between KT and the cities of Seoul, Incheon, Gyeonggi, the National Statistical Office, and three research institutes in the capital area. Developing and continuously publishing data that covers regions (Gyeonggi and Incheon) is an unprecedented attempt globally.
The ‘Capital Area Mobility Data’ expands the scope compared to the previous ‘Seoul Mobility Data’. It aggregates data on movements not only within Seoul, Gyeonggi, and Incheon but also includes movements beyond city boundaries within the capital area, and captures all movements of people where the capital area is the starting or ending point.
This data includes all movements that trigger administrative demand, from regular commutes and school trips to movements for shopping, tourism, hospital visits, and more. Spatially, it encompasses all movements between Seoul and the capital area, extending nationwide.
Based on KT’s mobile signal data, urban citizens’ movements are aggregated at the base station level, estimating movements every 20 minutes across more than 41,000 finely segmented areas (250m grid units) spanning the entire capital area, including Seoul.
The analysis calculates how many people have moved (population mobility) based on the origin and destination, the purpose of the movement (e.g., commuting, school, hospital, shopping, tourism), and the average time it takes to travel from the origin to the destination (travel time) on a daily basis in 20-minute intervals. All movement information can be analyzed in detail by time of day, gender, and age group.
The newly developed Capital Area Mobility Data will serve as foundational material for policies directly related to the quality of urban life, such as improving transportation infrastructure to reduce commuting and school travel times, optimizing bus routes, selecting locations for youth housing, and redesigning metropolitan urban spaces.
For instance, regions that show longer commuting times despite relatively short distances can be identified for improvements or adjustments in transportation infrastructure (transfer centers, stops, bus routes, etc.). Additionally, by redesigning the spatial structure between areas in the capital region and those around Seoul, it can help concentrate or disperse administrative demands at focal points, potentially reducing social costs and promoting balanced development.
Moreover, based on dense movement data between Seoul, Gyeonggi, and Incheon, it is expected that new bus routes can be established in high foot traffic areas where public transportation is challenging, and site selection for public facilities such as hospitals, shopping centers, and schools can also be enhanced.
Choi Jun-ki, head of KT’s AI Business Division, stated, “The Capital Area Mobility Data is a case of achieving results through cooperation between the public and private sectors and research institutions. I hope this mobility data will become a cornerstone for building a safe and convenient smart city.”
Contact: Lee Sang-jin daedusj@autodiary.kr