An Integrated Framework To Support Global and Local Pattern Assessment for Residential Movements

Yin Liu
Sichuan Normal University

Alan T. Murray
Drexel University

Residential mobility is a defining characteristic of society in the United States. A 2003 U.S. Census Bureau migration report highlights that more than 22 million people were characterized as domestic migrants between 1995 and 2000. Understanding resulting patterns is important because it provides insights on rationale for movement and for housing, services, and supporting infrastructure implications. The method for facilitating pattern identification and exploration of movements unfortunately is lacking. It is often the case that migration and movement are considered in aggregate terms—between cities and counties in a state or region. Individual behavior reflective of a movement trajectory is therefore masked in various ways. Survey evidence also indicates that residential movements of short distance—for example, those occurring within a city or county—reflect the greatest proportion of total migrations. To address limitations, this research proposes a framework integrating spatial analytical methods to support pattern analysis for individual movements, relying on detailed information of origin and destination change. The framework can explore the patterns at both the global and local levels. The framework is designed using various visual analytic interfaces coupled with statistical evaluation and significance testing, representing both exploratory and confirmatory assessment. The integrated framework is applied to study residential movement involving 2,636 housing changes in Franklin County, Ohio, and effectively estimates some special global and local patterns from those events.