Analysis of pedestrian behaviors through non-invasive Bluetooth monitoring. (April 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Yoshimura, Yuji; Amini, Alexander; Sobolevsky, Stanislav; Blat, Josep; Ratti, Carlo
• Is Part Of: Applied geography. Volume 81(2017:Jul.)
• Page Start: 43
• Page End: 51
• Publication Date: 2017-04
• Subjects: Shopping behavior -- Pedestrian analysis -- Bluetooth tracking -- Barcelona -- Human mobility -- Real time management tool; Geography -- Periodicals; Human geography -- Periodicals; Human ecology -- Periodicals; 910
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apgeog.2017.02.002
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0143-6228

Abstract

Abstract: This paper presents a novel framework to analyze pedestrians' behavioral patterns throughout shopping environments in the historical center of Barcelona, Spain. We employ a Bluetooth detection technique to capture a large-scale dataset of pedestrians' behavior over a one-month period, including during a key sales period. We focused on comparing particular behaviors before, during, and after the discount sales by analyzing this large-scale dataset, which is different but complementary to the conventionally used small-scale samples. Our results uncover pedestrians actively exploring a wider area of the district during a discount period compared to weekdays, giving rise to strong underlying mobility patterns. Highlights: Noninvasive Bluetooth monitoring is employed to collect a large-scale dataset of human mobility. Explore how factors of the shopping environment can impact a pedestrian's underlying mobility. Compares and evaluates pedestrians' spatiotemporal dynamics before, during and after the discount sales. Findings enable a more flexible and efficient approach to urban planning and management.