Analysis of Flow of People Across Administrative Municipal Boundaries Based on Mobile Data

Abstract

In recent years, Japan’s declining population has created a need for urban infrastructure management. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic has made the control of movement between prefectures a topic of discussion. On the other hand, the growth of the information society has brought attention to mobile spatial statistics. In this study, we use mobile spatial statistics to analyze the time series of cross-border, focusing on population based on destination communities. Several case studies are analyzed in detail for a deep understanding of cross-border. We then consider the future of wide-area cooperation and municipal mergers for creating communities with diversity and preventing natural disasters. We summarize the following three key points. First, we spotlight the characteristics of communities with a population flow of cross-border. Second, we develop a more effective policy, integrating cooperation across multiple regions with the spotlighted characteristics. Finally, we consider the impact on border crossings based on the day of the week and the corresponding COVID-19 case rate.