Examining potentials and practical constraints of mobile phone data for improving transport planning in developing countries

The advantages and constraints of mobile phone data, call detail records (CDRs), for comprehending travel patterns were argued in previous studies. However, the spatio-temporal tendencies of the estimated travel patterns from CDR data have been underrepresented from the viewpoint of transport planning practice. This study scrutinizes the benefits and constraints of CDR data for grasping spatio-temporal travel patterns through multidimensional comparison between origin-destination matrices generated from aggregated CDR data and household travel survey (HTS) data from Colombo, Sri Lanka. The results show the potential of CDR data to complement the conventional drawbacks of HTSs. They also indicate practical constraints owing to the nature of CDR data and the possible impacts of data protection measures. This study summarizes how the results could be used for interpreting the time coverage and distribution, trip type, spatial distribution, and population projection and coverage to discuss future directions toward improving transport planning in developing countries.