Dynamic population presence linked to home neighbourhoods in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area: A 24-hour weekday and weekend dataset
Authors/Creators
-
1.
University of Helsinki
- 2. Digital Geography Lab, Department of Geosciences and Geography, University of Helsinki
- 3. Helsinki Institute of Urban and Regional Studies, University of Helsinki
- 4. Elisa Corporation
Description
In this dataset:
We present a 24-hour population presence dataset from the Helsinki Metropolitan Area (HMA), Finland. This population-level and metropolitan-wide dataset shows hourly population distribution across HMA neighbourhoods on an average weekday (Mon–Fri) and an average weekend day (Sat–Sun), and links people’s hourly presence to their home neighbourhoods. The dataset was derived from mobile phone data, collected by a major Finnish mobile network operator in 2021, through anonymisation, spatio-temporal aggregation, normalisation, and weighting based on neighbourhood population data from Statistics Finland. The published data serve as a calibrated and validated proxy for the entire HMA population distribution. Data validation showed strong agreement between the population register data and the study population’s residential and night-time presence distribution. By linking dynamic presence data to home neighbourhoods, the dataset allows both people-based and place-based analyses, and integration with socioeconomic indicators. Moreover, its population-level scope, metropolitan-wide coverage, and capture of both weekdays and weekends makes the dataset valuable for a range of research questions and policy applications related to daily mobility, urban vitality, social mixing, green space use, epidemic modelling, and beyond.
Please cite this dataset as:
Müürisepp, K., Järv, O., Manninen, M. & Toivonen, T. Dynamic population presence linked to home neighbourhoods in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area: A 24-hour weekday and weekend dataset. Scientific Data (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-026-08129-8
Organization of data
The dataset is packaged into a single Zipfile 24h_Population_Presence_Dataset.zip which contains following files:
- 24h_PopulationPresence_weekday.zip. The first set of 24 CSV files, located in the folder “24h_Population_Presence_Weekday”, represents the dynamic distribution of the HMA neighbourhood population groups (n = 269) across all HMA neighbourhoods (n = 298) on an average weekday (Monday to Friday). Each file corresponds to one hour of the day.
- 24h_PopulationPresence_weekend.zip. The second set of 24 CSV files, located in the folder “24h_Population_Presence_Weekend”, represents the dynamic distribution of the HMA neighbourhood population groups (n = 269) across all HMA neighbourhoods (n = 298) on an average weekend day (Saturday and Sunday). Each file corresponds to one hour of the day.
- The GPKG file “HMA_neighbourhood_division.gpkg” is a spatial layer containing the HMA neighbourhood units (n = 298). The published layer includes a unique identifier for each neighbourhood unit (“Neighbourhood_unit_ID”), enabling joins with the neighbourhood units in the CSV files (“Home_unit_ID” and “Visited_unit_ID”; see Table 1). It also contains the columns “Neighbourhood_name” and “Municipality_name”.
Column names
Data structure of the hourly population distribution files in the population presence dataset.
|
Column name |
Description |
|
Home_unit_ID
|
Unique identifier for each populated HMA neighbourhood unit (n = 269), indicating the place of residence for people whose home locations were detected in that unit. The identifiers are compatible with official neighbourhood-level statistical data (including demographics) available in open statistical databases in the Helsinki Region47. |
|
Visited_unit_ID
|
Unique identifier for each HMA neighbourhood unit (n = 298), indicating the presence of people in that visited unit during a one-hour period. The identifiers are compatible with official neighbourhood-level statistical data (including demographics) available in open statistical databases in the Helsinki Region47. |
|
Hour |
Hour of the day (values range from 0 to 23). For example, 11 represents the time from 11:00 to 11:59. |
|
Pop_presence |
The estimated number of people present within a visited HMA neighbourhood (“Visited_unit_ID”) originating from the same home neighbourhood (“Home_unit_ID”) during a one-hour period (Hour). For each one-hour period, the total number of people present across all HMA neighbourhoods equals 1,182,124 (i.e., the total population of the HMA neighbourhoods). |
Notes
The codes used for processing raw mobile phone data by the MNO are restricted to the MNO use only due to privacy considerations and proprietary rights.
The code is available for the following mobile phone data processing step: Allocation of home locations and hourly presence into neighbourhoods (Step 5). For this, an updated Python code for the multi-temporal function-based dasymetric (MFD) interpolation method was used. See file: MFD_interpolation_for_HMA.ipynb.
Files
HMA_24h_Population_Presence_Dataset.zip
Files
(30.6 MB)
| Name | Size | Download all |
|---|---|---|
|
md5:e4c441e315872a36e76d3fa1d87ba297
|
30.2 MB | Preview Download |
|
md5:d5851a33e7d84c0880d705a96b9ed09f
|
342.7 kB | Preview Download |
Additional details
Related works
- Is described by
- Journal article: 10.1002/psp.70029 (DOI)
Funding
- Kone Foundation
- 201710415
- City of Helsinki
- City of Helsinki Research Grant
- Research Council of Finland
- 331549
- Research Council of Finland
- Flagship Program of Advanced Mathematics for Sensing, Imaging and Modelling, FAME 359182
Dates
- Available
-
2026-08-21