Reading
Human Behavior Predictable!
Before you start reading, study the following vocabulary:
Vast
Predictable
Cull
Accurately
Entire
Stray
Bulk
Anticipate
Location data from mobile phones has shown that the vast majority of human movement is predictable – 93 per cent!
A study published by the journal Science examined anonymised data culled from mobile phone service providers and found that it was possible to accurately predict movement and location up to 97 per cent of the time for the majority of people, and 93 per cent of the time for the entire set of data.
The study also found that the majority of people did not stray outside a 6 mile radius for the bulk of the period investigated, and that at any one time people were 70 per cent likely to be at their most-visited location.
The study used data from mobile phones which were logged by networks at least once every two hours, and gave location information an accuracy of two square miles. Even for callers who traveled regularly over areas of hundreds of miles, data showed that their movements were predictable, indicating travel patterns tend to be quite formulaic. Each user was found to visit an average of 63 places regularly.
Although the data might appear to confirm what people intuitively believe – that most days, most people go to work, leave and go home again, for instance – the researchers, from Boston, USA and China, believe that it could be useful for mobile network data load management, city planning and anticipating the spread of viruses.
Questions
What do the following phrases mean?
- “The ENTIRE set of data” means
- “AT LEAST once every two hours” means
- “It could be useful for ANTICIPATING the spread of viruses”
- “Human movement is PREDICTABLE” means
- “Most people did not STRAY outside a 6 mile radius” means
Are the following statements about the text correct?
1. Human movement is mostly predictable.
2. The data showed that the movements of callers were generally predictable, but not for callers who traveled regularly over areas of hundreds of miles.
3. The study used data from mobile phones which gave location information an accuracy of one square mile.
4. Each user was found to visit less than 70 places regularly.
5. At any one time, there is a 50 per cent that people are likely to be at their most-visited location.