Areas
Client: Parks and Recreation Department, Philadelphia, PA
Website: https://pennmusa.github.io/MUSA_801.io/project_23/index.html
Currently, the Philadelphia Department of Parks & Recreation (PPR) owns 524 facilities across the city and host thousands of programs and events every year that contribute to the wellness of people. In the past, staffing in PPR estimates the demand for its programming based on program data (like registered attendance) and other proxy measures about park visits (e.g. total trash collected). However, these measures may not be fully reliable and accurate.
Only recently, with the dynamic data collected by SafeGraph and other cell phone data carriers, it is now possible to analyze large data sets of cell phone location activity, including where people are traveling and how long they stay. SafeGraph’s mobile device panels get anonymous data about users’ foot traffic from numerous smartphone apps and could be considered as a selected sample to understand people’s travel pattern. These data are further aggregated to answer a series questions like how often do people visit a location or how long do they stay in a location.
By incorporating this novel dataset, we can help the PPR to analyze if their programming meet citizens’ demands and to better assign their program resources with SafeGraph’s Pattern data. With understanding of the imbalance between demand and supply, we can adjust the quantity of programs and events, like increasing number in low-supplied facilities and reducing number in over-supplied facilities. The prediction outcome of market area can be used to suggest PPR’s future programming strategies.