Spatiotemporal patterns of human mobility during the COVID-19 pandemic in China

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly reshaped population mobility, exerting a sustained impact on the patterns and dynamics of population mobility in China over the next three years. To comprehend the changes in population mobility patterns during the early stages of the COVID-19...

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Main Authors: Jingjing Liu, Lei Xu, Nengcheng Chen, Zeqiang Chen
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2025-03-01
Series:Geo-spatial Information Science
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Online Access:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/10095020.2025.2451757
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author Jingjing Liu
Lei Xu
Nengcheng Chen
Zeqiang Chen
author_facet Jingjing Liu
Lei Xu
Nengcheng Chen
Zeqiang Chen
author_sort Jingjing Liu
collection DOAJ
description The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly reshaped population mobility, exerting a sustained impact on the patterns and dynamics of population mobility in China over the next three years. To comprehend the changes in population mobility patterns during the early stages of the COVID-19 outbreak, as well as standard epidemic prevention and control measures, we conducted an analysis using data from Baidu Huiyan’s migration scale index. This data was used to examine the characteristics of population movement in China during the Spring Festival and National Day from 2020 to 2022. We employed the Louvain algorithm and SVD decomposition to examine the spatiotemporal patterns of population movement. In addition, we calculated the response speed of urban population arrival flow to the pandemic using the Pearson correlation coefficient. Furthermore, we analyzed the factors influencing this correlation and response speed using random forest eigenvalues. The findings suggest that daily commuting and holiday travel patterns were not significantly altered by the pandemic. Over the past three years, there has been a trend in population mobility toward quicker responses to the pandemic, influenced primarily by economic, policy, medical conditions, and population density. Areas with higher population density and greater structural complexity exhibit increased sensitivity of population mobility to the severity of the pandemic. Examining population movement patterns and influencing factors against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic can offer valuable insights for devising more targeted and effective prevention and control measures. Ultimately, this endeavor contributes to enhancing health-related urban resilience and sustainability.
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series Geo-spatial Information Science
spelling doaj-art-de9b95e045c640838f8e1390d314c3d82025-08-20T03:42:23ZengTaylor & Francis GroupGeo-spatial Information Science1009-50201993-51532025-03-0112110.1080/10095020.2025.2451757Spatiotemporal patterns of human mobility during the COVID-19 pandemic in ChinaJingjing Liu0Lei Xu1Nengcheng Chen2Zeqiang Chen3Hubei Luojia Laboratory & State Key Laboratory of Information Engineering in Surveying, Mapping, and Remote Sensing, Wuhan University, Wuhan, ChinaNational Engineering Research Center for Geographic Information System, School of Geography and Information Engineering, China University of Geosciences (Wuhan), Wuhan, ChinaHubei Luojia Laboratory & State Key Laboratory of Information Engineering in Surveying, Mapping, and Remote Sensing, Wuhan University, Wuhan, ChinaNational Engineering Research Center for Geographic Information System, School of Geography and Information Engineering, China University of Geosciences (Wuhan), Wuhan, ChinaThe outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly reshaped population mobility, exerting a sustained impact on the patterns and dynamics of population mobility in China over the next three years. To comprehend the changes in population mobility patterns during the early stages of the COVID-19 outbreak, as well as standard epidemic prevention and control measures, we conducted an analysis using data from Baidu Huiyan’s migration scale index. This data was used to examine the characteristics of population movement in China during the Spring Festival and National Day from 2020 to 2022. We employed the Louvain algorithm and SVD decomposition to examine the spatiotemporal patterns of population movement. In addition, we calculated the response speed of urban population arrival flow to the pandemic using the Pearson correlation coefficient. Furthermore, we analyzed the factors influencing this correlation and response speed using random forest eigenvalues. The findings suggest that daily commuting and holiday travel patterns were not significantly altered by the pandemic. Over the past three years, there has been a trend in population mobility toward quicker responses to the pandemic, influenced primarily by economic, policy, medical conditions, and population density. Areas with higher population density and greater structural complexity exhibit increased sensitivity of population mobility to the severity of the pandemic. Examining population movement patterns and influencing factors against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic can offer valuable insights for devising more targeted and effective prevention and control measures. Ultimately, this endeavor contributes to enhancing health-related urban resilience and sustainability.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/10095020.2025.2451757COVID-19human mobilitytravel restrictionssmartphone dataurban governance
spellingShingle Jingjing Liu
Lei Xu
Nengcheng Chen
Zeqiang Chen
Spatiotemporal patterns of human mobility during the COVID-19 pandemic in China
Geo-spatial Information Science
COVID-19
human mobility
travel restrictions
smartphone data
urban governance
title Spatiotemporal patterns of human mobility during the COVID-19 pandemic in China
title_full Spatiotemporal patterns of human mobility during the COVID-19 pandemic in China
title_fullStr Spatiotemporal patterns of human mobility during the COVID-19 pandemic in China
title_full_unstemmed Spatiotemporal patterns of human mobility during the COVID-19 pandemic in China
title_short Spatiotemporal patterns of human mobility during the COVID-19 pandemic in China
title_sort spatiotemporal patterns of human mobility during the covid 19 pandemic in china
topic COVID-19
human mobility
travel restrictions
smartphone data
urban governance
url https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/10095020.2025.2451757
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AT leixu spatiotemporalpatternsofhumanmobilityduringthecovid19pandemicinchina
AT nengchengchen spatiotemporalpatternsofhumanmobilityduringthecovid19pandemicinchina
AT zeqiangchen spatiotemporalpatternsofhumanmobilityduringthecovid19pandemicinchina