Using Wi-Fi Signals from Mobile Devices to Determine Characteristics of Pedestrian Behavior in Public Spaces

Abstract

This paper presents experimental research of the automatic data collection on the characteristics of pedestrians in public spaces. Three case studies in the streets of the pedestrian zone in the centre of Brno, a typical representative of a medium-large city in Central Europe, were selected for the demonstration of the proposed method. Data was observed in two ways: (i) automatic data collection, with the use of a data-logger on the principle of a minicomputer employing measurement of the intensity of the Wi-Fi signal from mobile devices, and (ii) in-situ observation. Data obtained by in-situ observation was collected to compare and verify the corresponding values of automatic collection. The research framework of the paper takes in the determination of exact values that can best define the character of walking behaviour in the given locality with a view to the conventions of previously published works, such as: (i) the number of pedestrians N; (ii) speed u; (iii) flow q; and (iv) density k. The results obtained demonstrate that the proposed method is suitable for projects of a larger scale, rather than monitoring a single street. A limiting factor to its application is the increasing density of the street network, which reduces the accuracy of the method. The data may make a valuable contribution towards the determination of long-term trends in mostly frequently used routes to walk through city centres. Data on numbers of visitors is valuable from the viewpoint of assessing the quality of time spent in the public space in cities.