Johannes Mast will defend his PhD thesis “Geographical Migration Research using Remote Sensing and Social Media Data” on April 29 at 4:30 p.m. at the EORC, John-Skilton Straße 4a, seminar Room 2. Everyone who is interested is cordially invited to join his presentation and the following discussion. The defense will be in German with English slides.
From his abstract: The dissertation investigates the potential of integrating remote sensing and geo-referenced social media (GSM) data to provide a more comprehensive analysis of global human migration and the associated urban growth. While traditional remote sensing effectively maps physical migration factors, it remains limited in capturing the intricate socio-economic and cultural factors that drive human mobility.
By combining natural language processing and spatial analysis, the research demonstrates how digital traces from platforms such as Twitter can supplement satellite data to identify digital disparities, mobility patterns, and migrants’ affinities. The work establishes a flexible, modular framework that allows for the joint analysis of semantic and lexical text features, geodata, and spatial mobility, offering a more nuanced understanding of settlement structures and human migration factors.
Further, the research work critically evaluates the inherent geographical and content-based biases within GSM data, emphasizing that these digital methods serve as a valuable complement to, rather than a replacement for, traditional census and qualitative surveys. Ultimately, the studies indicate that the combination of the different data types significantly enhances geographical research by providing a multi-dimensional overview on the complexities of contemporary migration.
