14.png (Photo : baidu.com)
Online search giant Baidu has just introduced a new website that provides real-time nationwide information on the movements of people as they travel home for the Spring Festival holidays.
With the website, users will be able to see which cities are the most popular destinations, what are the busiest train lines and which areas are "losing" the most people. Location engineers at Baidu decided that in analyzing China's Spring Festival travel season, also known as "Chunyun," which is considered one of the largest annual short-term migrations of people in the world, they would better understand the nation's migratory status and provide important information to travelers, transportation authorities and the tourism industry.
According to Baidu's Gu Weihao, the site is able to render its information by using a software technology known as location-based service (LBS). LBS provides current location coordinates to any IP-capable mobile device that is open to LBS queries. Currently, most Android OS and Apple iOS phones are LBS-enabled.
Gu, Baidu's LBS Technical Director, said once his team realized that most Chunyun travelers would bring along their mobile phones, the site just needed a way to upload the tremendous amount of LBS data being generated by the phones. Once uploaded, Baidu could then employ its cloud computer and Big Data technology to analyze just where all those phone owners were moving to.
The combination of access to data and real-time analysis created a comprehensive view of up-to-the-minute travel patterns. You can click on any point on the map, Gu said, to get current data as well as a 'historic' view of movements going back eight hours.
According to the site, the city with the highest number of people entering and exiting is Beijing and the most popular train line out of Beijing has been the No.5 Line. Analysts believe Beijing's high numbers are due to the fact that it's not only a popular destination but is also a major transfer point to China's northeastern provinces.
