Taking the Census, With Cellphones

sciencehabit writes: If you want to figure out how many people live in a particular part of your country, you could spend years conducting home visits and mailing out questionnaires. But a new study describes a quicker way. Scientists have figured out how to map populations using cellphone records — an approach that doesn't just reveal who lives where, but also where they go every day. The researchers also compared their results to population density data gathered through remote sensing technologies, a widely-used method that relies on satellite imaging to gather detailed information on population settlement patterns and estimate population counts. They found that the two methods are comparable in accuracy when checked against actual survey-based census data, but estimates from mobile phone data can provide more timely information, down to the hours.

Comments

Re:completely missing the point

[ShanghaiBill]

The primary purpose of a census is to determine apportionment to a legislature

Yes, and Article 1, Section 2, of the United States Constitution requires an actual enumeration. Any sort of statistical approximation is not legal. A count based on cellphones would skew toward young urban people (Democrats), and away from old rural people (Republicans). There is no way that would be passively accepted, and the courts have smacked down other attempts to "reform" the census.