Regularly visited patches in human mobility

In this paper, we propose a new analytic unit for human mobility analysis -- the patch. We developed a process to identify Regularly Visited Patches (RVP) and a set of metrics to characterize and measure their spatial patterns. Using a large dataset of Foursquare check-ins as a test bed, we show that RVP analysis reveals fundamental patterns of human mobility and will lead to promising research with strong implications for businesses.