Title
On the validity of geosocial mobility traces
Abstract
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.
Year
DOI
Venue
2013
10.1145/2535771.2535786
HotNets
Keywords
Field
DocType
extraneous checkins,large ground truth dataset,geosocial mobility trace,geosocial datasets,checkin event,foursquare checkin trace,missing checkins,gps trace,large portion,foursquare checkins,measurement,mobility
Data science,Computer science,Computer security,Correctness,Computer network,Ground truth,Global Positioning System
Conference
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
15
0.74
26
Authors
8
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Zengbin Zhang153627.05
Lin Zhou2150.74
Xiaohan Zhao323710.45
Gang Wang446525.30
Yu Su577134.45
Miriam Metzger6150.74
Haitao Zheng7107370.54
Ben Y. Zhao86274490.12