TY - GEN
T1 - On the validity of geosocial mobility traces
AU - Zhang, Zengbin
AU - Zhou, Lin
AU - Zhao, Xiaohan
AU - Wang, Gang
AU - Su, Yu
AU - Metzger, Miriam
AU - Zheng, Haitao
AU - Zhao, Ben Y.
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2014 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2013
Y1 - 2013
N2 - Mobile networking researchers have long searched for large-scale, fine-grained traces of human movement, which have remained elusive for both privacy and logistical reasons. Recently, researchers have begun to focus on geosocial mobility traces, e.g. Foursquare checkin traces, because of their availability and scale. But are we conceding correctness in our zeal for data? In this paper, we take initial steps towards quantifying the value of geosocial datasets using a large ground truth dataset gathered from a user study. By comparing GPS traces against Foursquare checkins, we find that a large portion of visited locations is missing from checkins, and most checkin events are either forged or superfluous events. We characterize extraneous checkins, describe possible techniques for their detection, and show that both extraneous and missing checkins introduce significant errors into applications driven by these traces.
AB - Mobile networking researchers have long searched for large-scale, fine-grained traces of human movement, which have remained elusive for both privacy and logistical reasons. Recently, researchers have begun to focus on geosocial mobility traces, e.g. Foursquare checkin traces, because of their availability and scale. But are we conceding correctness in our zeal for data? In this paper, we take initial steps towards quantifying the value of geosocial datasets using a large ground truth dataset gathered from a user study. By comparing GPS traces against Foursquare checkins, we find that a large portion of visited locations is missing from checkins, and most checkin events are either forged or superfluous events. We characterize extraneous checkins, describe possible techniques for their detection, and show that both extraneous and missing checkins introduce significant errors into applications driven by these traces.
KW - Location based social networks
KW - Measurement
KW - Mobility
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84893308951&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84893308951&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1145/2535771.2535786
DO - 10.1145/2535771.2535786
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:84893308951
SN - 9781450325967
T3 - Proceedings of the 12th ACM Workshop on Hot Topics in Networks, HotNets 2013
BT - Proceedings of the 12th ACM Workshop on Hot Topics in Networks, HotNets 2013
T2 - 12th ACM Workshop on Hot Topics in Networks, HotNets 2013
Y2 - 21 November 2013 through 22 November 2013
ER -