Integration of MNO data with survey data to produce commuting statistics
Integration of MNO data with survey data to produce commuting statistics
Historically, decennial population censuses have served as the foundation for official statistics on commuter flows between municipalities. However, to obtain more timely data, Istat, the Italian National Institute for Statistics, among other statistical agencies, has transitioned to conducting annual census surveys with smaller sample sizes. This shift introduces several challenges in deriving accurate commuting statistics. The availability of Mobile Network Operator (MNO) data enables the identification of recurring flows between home and work or study locations. These flows could potentially become the primary source for generating official statistics by properly adjusting the MNO coverage in a quasi randomisation (QR) approach. In this paper, we explore the use of MNO data to estimate the number of commuters between the municipalities of an Italian region, with a focus on the quasi-randomisation approach.
Di Consiglio, L.
038c63bc-ee24-40e8-8b2a-336e80c87fcc
Pichiorri, T.
778fcb6f-48b0-47c3-8548-2ef76a68b7cf
Piovani, A.
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Tuoto, T.
35bc017d-1c9a-42a0-8ff2-9f5b425fdcb2
Zhang, L.-C.
a5d48518-7f71-4ed9-bdcb-6585c2da3649
Di Consiglio, L.
038c63bc-ee24-40e8-8b2a-336e80c87fcc
Pichiorri, T.
778fcb6f-48b0-47c3-8548-2ef76a68b7cf
Piovani, A.
16372d7f-a73c-4207-82a4-9a213e7d4f45
Tuoto, T.
35bc017d-1c9a-42a0-8ff2-9f5b425fdcb2
Zhang, L.-C.
a5d48518-7f71-4ed9-bdcb-6585c2da3649
Di Consiglio, L., Pichiorri, T., Piovani, A., Tuoto, T. and Zhang, L.-C.
(2026)
Integration of MNO data with survey data to produce commuting statistics.
Statistical Journal of the IAOS.
(doi:10.1177/18747655251413352).
Abstract
Historically, decennial population censuses have served as the foundation for official statistics on commuter flows between municipalities. However, to obtain more timely data, Istat, the Italian National Institute for Statistics, among other statistical agencies, has transitioned to conducting annual census surveys with smaller sample sizes. This shift introduces several challenges in deriving accurate commuting statistics. The availability of Mobile Network Operator (MNO) data enables the identification of recurring flows between home and work or study locations. These flows could potentially become the primary source for generating official statistics by properly adjusting the MNO coverage in a quasi randomisation (QR) approach. In this paper, we explore the use of MNO data to estimate the number of commuters between the municipalities of an Italian region, with a focus on the quasi-randomisation approach.
Text
SJIAOS commuting final rev
- Accepted Manuscript
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 18 December 2025
e-pub ahead of print date: 20 January 2026
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 509087
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/509087
ISSN: 1874-7655
PURE UUID: e3036111-242d-453e-9bb5-b62f4f906a30
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Date deposited: 11 Feb 2026 17:36
Last modified: 12 Feb 2026 02:50
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Contributors
Author:
L. Di Consiglio
Author:
T. Pichiorri
Author:
A. Piovani
Author:
T. Tuoto
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