[id: 114]

Visualizing privacy threats in micro-mobility data

Short description: This thesis explores how cartographic visualization can aid in making privacy threats in micro-mobility data visible and comprehensible to support communication around this topic

Keywords:  privacy, micro-mobility, bike sharing

Topic at: TU Dresden

Staff involved: Anna Brauer (anna_elke.brauer@tu-dresden.de)  

Description:

Micro-mobility services have conquered our streets in the form of bike sharing and scooter rental systems. As these services generate large volumes of data about user trips, they are an interesting data source for research on urban mobility, infrastructure planning, and sustainability [1].

However, these data can pose significant privacy risks, even when stripped of explicit user identifiers. For example, an individual may be re-identified, that is, trip information may be linked back to the individual's identity [2]. This link can be created using origin-destination pairs, social media posts, or observations of the individual during a trip. As a result, potentially sensitive personal information about, for example, habitual travel times or visited locations may be revealed. These risks are often abstract and poorly understood by policymakers, users, and service providers.

Therefore, this thesis explores how cartographic visualization can aid in making privacy threats in micro-mobility data visible and comprehensible to support communication around this topic. As a first step, you will familiarize yourself with relevant literature on (mobility) data privacy threats to later be able to identify privacy risks in micro-mobility data and construct threat scenarios which can be visualized effectively. You may experiment with different cartographic representations, using either static maps or interactive applications. Depending on your background and interests, you may focus either on developing a tool that supports exploratory analysis of privacy threats in micro-mobility data, or evaluating the suitability of different scenarios and visualization techniques by carrying out a user study.

The emphasis of the study (conceptual threat modeling, cartographic design, tool development) can be adjusted according to your interests.  

Literature/references:

  1. Abduljabbar, R. L., Liyanage, S., & Dia, H. (2021). The role of micro-mobility in shaping sustainable cities: A systematic literature review. Transportation research part D: transport and environment, 92, 102734.
  2. Monreale, A., & Pellungrini, R. (2023). A survey on privacy in human mobility. Transactions on Data Privacy, 16(1), 51-82.