Constructing the commuting backbone network dataset for the United States

Abstract Commuting backbones represent the most essential connections within a commuting network—those significant flows that link major residential and employment areas and structurally support regional mobility systems. Identifying these backbones is critical for understanding large-scale travel d...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Jinpeng Wang, Yujie Hu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2025-07-01
Series:Scientific Data
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-025-05624-2
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849344025453133824
author Jinpeng Wang
Yujie Hu
author_facet Jinpeng Wang
Yujie Hu
author_sort Jinpeng Wang
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Commuting backbones represent the most essential connections within a commuting network—those significant flows that link major residential and employment areas and structurally support regional mobility systems. Identifying these backbones is critical for understanding large-scale travel demand, informing infrastructure investment, and supporting transportation planning at regional and national levels. Despite their importance, no publicly available datasets currently exist that capture these commuting backbones across the United States. This paper addresses this gap by generating and sharing two commuting backbone networks, focusing on ground-based commuting modes. Using the disparity filter algorithm, the study extracts significant commuter flows—forming the commuter connection backbone network—within core-based statistical areas (CBSAs). These connections are then mapped to the road network to determine shortest driving paths, and aggregated to highlight heavily used road segments, resulting in the backbone road network. These datasets offer a consistent, national framework for examining key commuting corridors, analyzing structural characteristics of commuting networks, and supporting applications in transportation planning, infrastructure prioritization, sustainability analysis, and regional policy development.
format Article
id doaj-art-e60c097ca46b47ee8aa99f0e4a7697ed
institution Kabale University
issn 2052-4463
language English
publishDate 2025-07-01
publisher Nature Portfolio
record_format Article
series Scientific Data
spelling doaj-art-e60c097ca46b47ee8aa99f0e4a7697ed2025-08-20T03:42:47ZengNature PortfolioScientific Data2052-44632025-07-011211810.1038/s41597-025-05624-2Constructing the commuting backbone network dataset for the United StatesJinpeng Wang0Yujie Hu1Department of Geography, University of FloridaDepartment of Geography, University of FloridaAbstract Commuting backbones represent the most essential connections within a commuting network—those significant flows that link major residential and employment areas and structurally support regional mobility systems. Identifying these backbones is critical for understanding large-scale travel demand, informing infrastructure investment, and supporting transportation planning at regional and national levels. Despite their importance, no publicly available datasets currently exist that capture these commuting backbones across the United States. This paper addresses this gap by generating and sharing two commuting backbone networks, focusing on ground-based commuting modes. Using the disparity filter algorithm, the study extracts significant commuter flows—forming the commuter connection backbone network—within core-based statistical areas (CBSAs). These connections are then mapped to the road network to determine shortest driving paths, and aggregated to highlight heavily used road segments, resulting in the backbone road network. These datasets offer a consistent, national framework for examining key commuting corridors, analyzing structural characteristics of commuting networks, and supporting applications in transportation planning, infrastructure prioritization, sustainability analysis, and regional policy development.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-025-05624-2
spellingShingle Jinpeng Wang
Yujie Hu
Constructing the commuting backbone network dataset for the United States
Scientific Data
title Constructing the commuting backbone network dataset for the United States
title_full Constructing the commuting backbone network dataset for the United States
title_fullStr Constructing the commuting backbone network dataset for the United States
title_full_unstemmed Constructing the commuting backbone network dataset for the United States
title_short Constructing the commuting backbone network dataset for the United States
title_sort constructing the commuting backbone network dataset for the united states
url https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-025-05624-2
work_keys_str_mv AT jinpengwang constructingthecommutingbackbonenetworkdatasetfortheunitedstates
AT yujiehu constructingthecommutingbackbonenetworkdatasetfortheunitedstates