A Method to Model Population-Wide Social Networks for Large Scale Activity-Travel Micro-Simulation

Social-leisure activities account for an important and increasing segment of travel in modern societies. Yet, these activities are least understood in current activity-based models of travel demand. In this paper the authors propose a model to generate population-wide social networks that in the context of large-scale micro-simulation of travel demand provide a basis for modeling social interactions. The proposed model consists of a friendship formation model formulated in the random utility maximization (RUM) framework, and a component to simulate the network in a population. The authors show how the friendship model can be estimated by loglikelihood methods on observations of personal networks. In an application to the Swiss context, the authors demonstrate the estimation and ability of the model to reproduce relevant characteristics of networks, including for the first time simultaneously geographic distance, attribute similarity (homophily), size of personal networks (degree distribution) and clustering (transitivity). The authors conclude that the model, in combination with current methods to generate synthetic populations, offers a basis to model social-leisure activities and associated travel in more rigorous behavioral ways than previously possible.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ADB10 Traveler Behavior and Values
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Arentze, Theo A
  • Kowald, Matthias
  • Axhausen, Kay W
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 91st Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2012-1-22 to 2012-1-26
• Date: 2012

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 18p
• Monograph Title: TRB 91st Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers DVD

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Activity choices; Leisure time; Microsimulation; Social factors; Travel demand
• Subject Areas: Planning and Forecasting; Transportation (General); I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01371029
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 12-1619
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: May 25 2012 9:31AM