Mobility networks in Greater Mexico City

Area of Science:

• Urban studies
• Network science
• Epidemiology

Background:

• Understanding population mobility is crucial for urban planning and public health.
• The COVID-19 pandemic significantly altered human movement patterns globally.
• Mexico City's large scale and diversity present unique challenges and opportunities for mobility analysis.

Purpose of the Study:

• To construct and analyze daily mobility networks for Greater Mexico City.
• To investigate population movement dynamics across 2020-2021, encompassing the COVID-19 pandemic.
• To provide a data framework for integrating mobility with socio-economic and demographic indicators.

Main Methods:

• Utilized over 11 billion geolocated cell phone records from 33 million devices.
• Developed daily mobility networks with 456 Basic Statistical Geographic Areas (AGEBs) as nodes.
• Quantified inter-AGEB movement using edge weights representing trip volumes.

Main Results:

• Established comprehensive daily mobility networks for Greater Mexico City over 15 months.
• Enabled analysis of mobility shifts before, during, and after the COVID-19 health contingency.
• Created a framework for linking mobility data with National Institute of Statistics, Geography, and Informatics (INEGI) indicators.

Conclusions:

• The study provides a robust dataset for understanding urban mobility dynamics.
• The integrated data framework supports in-depth analyses of travel patterns and socio-spatial segregation.
• This research offers valuable insights for urban planning, public health interventions, and socio-economic studies in large metropolitan areas.