Analyzing Travel Behavior by Using GPS-Based Activity Spaces and Opportunity Indicators

ABSTRACT

An activity space is a spatial expression of individual spatial behavior that can play a role in visualizing and analyzing travel behavior. In this article, we use the data of a two-day tracking experiment to explore whether accessibility to opportunities as represented through activity spaces associate with different travel characteristics, including willingness to consider more sustainable modes of transport. Simultaneously, we draw attention to the question of how to represent activity spaces. Using data of 95 respondents, we introduce point-of-interest data as an indicator to represent the accessibility to opportunities within individual activity spaces and we analyze their relationship to the respondents’ self-reported willingness to consider more sustainable modes of travel. The results indicate that there is an association between higher scores on the activity space opportunity indicators and the willingness to consider more sustainable modes of transport. Overall, the study shows the potential of using accessibility indicators derived from GPS-based activity spaces to gain insight into travel behavior.

KEYWORDS:

• Activity spaces
• points of interest
• opportunity indicators
• GPS
• Smartphones

Acknowledgments

Opinions expressed and conclusions arrived at, are those of the authors and are not necessarily to be attributed to the NRF. Map data copyrighted OpenStreetMap contributors and available from https://www.openstreetmap.org. We thank both anonymous reviewers for their comments and constructive feedback. We would also like to thank Ms Melanie Venter and Ms Jeanette Thiart for their contributions in the data collection and data preparation process. An early version of this paper was presented at Mobile Tartu 2016 in Tartu, Estonia.

Notes on Contributors

Justin van Dijk is a PhD candidate and part-time lecturer in the Logistics Department at Stellenbosch University. His research interests include accessibility, GPS, smartphones, Geographical Information Systems, and urban transport networks.

Stephan Krygsman is an associate professor of transport economics at Stellenbosch University. He teaches transport courses and conducts research on accessibility, urban transport problems, and new technologies for travel data collection in an African context.

ORCID

Justin van Dijk http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5496-425X

Stephan Krygsman http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7367-3407

Additional information

Funding

The financial assistance of the South African National Research Foundation (NRF) towards this research is hereby acknowledged.