The Development of an App-based Activity Tracking System in Social Segregation and Social Interaction Research

This project explores new techniques in conducting research on social and spatial segregation. Whilst traditional approaches look at social and spatial segregation by evaluating how people of different socio-economic background mix with each in specific spatial units, recent approaches have moved from a place-based to a people-based perspective in which the actual interaction between groups across neighbourhoods is the focus of concern. This project proposes to develop app based tools in tracking people mobility with GPS as well as to record daily activities with online diaries. This would greatly improve the accuracy as well as efficiency of the collection of mobility and interaction data. Besides the development of technical instruments, this project will also explore the most efficient work flow in data collection, transmission and manipulation. Not only could these new techniques lead to new approaches in conducting social and spatial segregation research (and hence research bids for more substantial external funding, the tools developed could also be useful to other research that requires geographic position tracking and the use of diary in data collection.