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arXiv · 0908.1221

Origin of the Scaling Law in Human Mobility: Hierarchical Organization of Traffic Systems

Xiaopu Han·Qiang Hao·Binghong Wang·Tao Zhou
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Abstract

Uncovering the mechanism leading to the scaling law in human trajectories is of fundamental importance in understanding many spatiotemporal phenomena. We propose a hierarchical geographical model to mimic the real traffic system, upon which a random walker will generate a power-law travel displacement distribution with exponent -2. When considering the inhomogeneities of cities' locations and attractions, this model reproduces a power-law displacement distribution with an exponential cutoff, as well as a scaling behavior in the probability density of having traveled a certain distance at a certain time. Our results agree very well with the empirical observations reported in [D. Brockmann et al., Nature 439, 462 (2006)].

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Xiaopu Han, Qiang Hao, Binghong Wang, Tao Zhou. 2009-08-09. Origin of the Scaling Law in Human Mobility: Hierarchical Organization of Traffic Systems. https://doi.org/10.1103/physreve.83.036117

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