1. Dr. Noam Shoval and his research group are using GPS technology to track the mobility patterns of older adults in Israel and Germany with different cognitive states, from healthy to mild dementia. 2. The goals are to see how mobility patterns vary with cognitive state, assess impacts on quality of life, and examine the potential for tracking to help families and diagnosis. Participants wear GPS watches that record their locations frequently. 3. Preliminary findings show variations in distances traveled from home between cognitive groups and across days and times. The aggregated GPS data provides new insights into elderly mobility and consumption of space.

1. Elderly People and the City
An Investigation with GPS Methodology
Dr. Noam Shoval
Department of Geography
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
The research is supported by the Deutsch-Israelische Projektkooperation (DIP)

2. Dementia and Mobility
About 23 million people worldwide have some
form of dementia
Rate rises with age – 1.5% among people aged
65-69; 25% among people aged 85+
“The white epidemic”
Rate is expected to double every 20 years
Many people with dementia have problems with
mobility, especially outside the home.
Mobility problems, especially wandering, is one of
the main reasons for institutionalization of elders.
Sources: Ferri et al. (2005); Glickman (1997)

3. Research Team
Hebrew University Univ. of Heidelberg
Noam Shoval – Coordinator Hans-Werner Wahl
(Geography) (Psychology: Gerontology)
Gail Auslander Frank Oswald
(Social Work: Gerontology) (Environmental Psychology)
Ruth Landau Tim Freytag
(Social Work: Ethics)
(Geography)
Jeremia Heinik
(Psychogeriatrics)

4. Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region
Tel-Aviv Metropolitan Region

5. Study Goals (Selected)
Do mobility patterns of older adults vary according to their
cognitive state? If so, what specific patterns in time and
space occur?
Assess the relationship between mobility and quality of life
among elders and their families.
Assess the potential of advanced tracking technologies to
reduce stress and burden of families of elders with
dementia.
Examine the ethical implications of advanced tracking
technologies.
Assess the potential of the technology in the diagnosis of
dementia.

6. General concept of data flow

7. Traditional Methods for Data Collection
on Human Spatial Activity
Tracking / Following / Stalking
Observation: high buildings, CCTV cameras, etc.
Evidence provided by the research subject themselves
(Questionnaires, Time-Space Diaries). Based on the
subject’s collaboration… Especially in the case of cognitive
impaired people.
The potential to implement advanced tracking technologies

8. Implementing Tracking Technologies for
Spatial Research
My own experience:
Spatial activity of visitors to (1) Theme Parks (Mini-Israel,
PortAventura - Catalunya) (2) Historic Cities (Akko,
Heidelberg) and (3) Multi-Functional Cities (Hong-Kong)
Objective functional measures of orthopedic procedures (with
Hadassah university hospital in Jerusalem)

10. END of Part 1

11. Recruitment of participants from three groups in each
country (Israel and Germany):
Healthy elders, Elders with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI),
Elders with Mild Dementia (MD)
Procedure repeated for three years.

12. Tracking technology – location kits
Location Kit : Star unit, home unit and RF
watch

17. Perspective I:
When the research unit is an Individual
•How do people move through space?
•What types of transportation do they use?
•Where do elderly people spend their time?
•How much of their time is spent at home?

18. Perspective II:
When the research unit is the City:
One month
aggregative
Activity of P8,
MCI

19. Tracking people involves a lot of data
Tracking a person every 10 seconds means
collecting, storing and analyzing 360 points an
hour and 8640 points a day, 259200 a month...
That is a lot of data!

20. Participant 111019, 26/4/08

24. What could make someone walk in
such a strange pattern?

28. Part 3:
Preliminary Findings

29. Movement in Space

33. Participants Tracks count by day of the week and hour
180
160
140
120
100
Monday
Saturday
80
60
40
20
0
24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

34. In what activities outside
home do the participants
spend their time?

37. How far from home are
the participants during
the day and night?

38. P1 – Spider web chart of average activity

39. Distances from home of one participant during one week

40. Average of median distance from home for three cognitive groups

41. Aggregative Consumption of Space

43. Dr. Noam Shoval’s Research Group

44. GPS samples by
velocity

49. Conclusions
1. Using advanced tracking technologies opens up new
possibilities for empirical research (in terms of the
accuracy, and the data resolution).
2. The fact that the data is collected by digital interfaces allow
accelerated analysis (almost in real time) and in lower
costs.
3. Our research design enables us to link between the
geographical, medical and psycho-social data.
4. Possibilities to implement the methodologies to advance
research in other cases of pedestrian behavior.

50. Thanks!