Automatic identification of informal social groups and places for geo-social recommendations

  • Authors:
  • Ankur Gupta;Sanil Paul;Quentin Jones;Cristian Borcea

  • Affiliations:
  • Department of Computer Science, New Jersey Institute of Technology, University Heights, Newark, NJ 07102, USA.;Department of Computer Science, New Jersey Institute of Technology, University Heights, Newark, NJ 07102, USA.;Department of Information Systems, New Jersey Institute of Technology, University Heights, Newark, NJ 07102, USA.;Department of Computer Science, New Jersey Institute of Technology, University Heights, Newark, NJ 07102, USA

  • Venue:
  • International Journal of Mobile Network Design and Innovation
  • Year:
  • 2007

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Abstract

Mobile locatable devices can help identify previously unknown adhoc or semi-permanent groups of people and their meeting places.Newly identified groups or places can be recommended to people toenhance their geo-social experience, while respecting privacyconstraints. For instance, new students can learn about popularhangouts on campus or faculty members can learn about groups ofstudents routinely having research discussions. This paper presentsa clustering algorithm based on user copresence that identifiessuch groups and places even when group members participate to onlya certain fraction of meetings. Simulation results demonstrate that90 96% of group members can be identified with negligible falsepositives when the user meeting attendance is at least 50%.Experimental results using one-month of mobility traces collectedfrom smart phones running Intel's PlaceLab location enginesuccessfully identified all groups that met regularly during thatperiod. Additionally, the group places were identified with goodaccuracy.