Almost 1.6 billion mobile phones have been sold worldwide in 2010, 19% of them being smartphones. In 2010, the number of mobile subscriptions has reached almost 10 million in Switzerland, which is more than the number of people living in the country. Approximately 25% of these telephones featured a broadband internet connection.
Every mobile phone leaves digital traces permanently, while interacting with the mobile infrastructure. It can be seen as a mobile sensor that allows to define the geographic position of the subscription holder, almost in real-time.
During one day Swisscom subscribers in Geneva generate approximately 15 million connections from 2 million phone calls. This information called 'digital traces' offers new insights about the city, which are of great interest both from a economic and political perspective. Examples are the following.
- For citizens this data allows to feel the pulse of the population and see how they use the urban space. It offers a great innovation opportunity for new citizen services like traffic jam detectors or nightlife buzz indicators.
- For the public administration these digital traces can be very useful to evaluate urban planning strategies.
- For businesses the digital traces can reveal insights on how popular certain districts are, during what time periods. This information can be leveraged to determine leases or chose the best spot for a shop or restaurant.
More generally digital traces allow to reveal information that is invisible in traditional visualization techniques such as cartography. They reflect mobility in a city or a street and therefore represent 'living' space, animated by the people.