TECHNOLOGICAL FIELD

An example embodiment relates generally to using pedestrian movement for advertising and, more particularly, to using pedestrian movement for spaciotemporal use, such as advertising.

BACKGROUND

Understanding pedestrian movement patterns can be helpful for a variety of use cases, including advertising technology (adtech), consumer and retail technologies, financial predictions, smart cities, and the like. However, pedestrian-specific movement data is often difficult to determine and require complete data models that require heavy computing in order to get useful information. Based on this, pedestrian-specific movement data is not widely available and therefore use cases, such as adtech, are not able to be optimized.

BRIEF SUMMARY

A method, apparatus, and computer program product are provided in accordance with an example embodiment in order to organize pedestrian movement data. In an example embodiment, the method includes receiving a set of travel data. The set of travel data includes one or more pedestrian trips including an origin and a destination. The method also includes generating a pedestrian flow matrix. The pedestrian flow matrix has one or more pedestrian flow compartments. The method further includes assigning at least one of the pedestrian trips to one or more of the pedestrian flow compartments based on the origin and the destination of the given pedestrian trip.

In some embodiments, the method also includes determining an advertisement to provide to a user based on the pedestrian flow matrix. In some embodiments, the one or more pedestrian flow compartments are divided based on at least one of zip code level, link level, or point of interest level. In some embodiments, the one or more pedestrian trips includes temporal information including a time at original and/or a time at destination.

In some embodiments, a plurality of pedestrian flow matrices are each generated with a plurality of time ranges. In some embodiments, the set of travel data further includes one or more sub-location points. In such an embodiment, the sublocation points are intermediate locations between the origin and the destination. In some embodiments, at least one sublocation point is used as an origin or destination in determining the assignment of the pedestrian tip to the pedestrian flow compartment.

In another example embodiment, an apparatus is provided for organizing pedestrian movement data. The apparatus includes at least one processor and at least one non-transitory memory including computer program code instructions, the computer program code instructions configured to, when executed, cause the apparatus to receive a set of travel data. The set of travel data includes one or more pedestrian trips including an origin and a destination. The computer program instructions are also configured to, when executed, cause the apparatus to generate a pedestrian flow matrix. The pedestrian flow matrix has one or more pedestrian flow compartments. The computer program instructions are further configured to, when executed, cause the apparatus to assign at least one of the pedestrian trips to one or more of the pedestrian flow compartments.

In some embodiments, the computer program code instructions are further configured to, when executed, cause the apparatus to determine an advertisement to provide to a user based on the pedestrian flow matrix. In some embodiments, the one or more pedestrian flow compartments are divided based on at least one of zip code level, link level, or point of interest level. In some embodiments, the one or more pedestrian trips includes temporal information including a time at original and/or a time at destination. In some embodiments, a plurality of pedestrian flow matrices are each generated with a plurality of time ranges.

In some embodiments, the set of travel data further includes one or more sub-location points. In such embodiments, sublocation points are intermediate locations between the origin and the destination. In some embodiments, at least one sublocation point is used as an origin or destination in determining the assignment of the pedestrian tip to the pedestrian flow compartment.

In yet another example embodiment, a computer program product is provided that includes at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable program code portions stored therein with the computer-executable program code portions including program code instructions configured to receive a set of travel data. The set of travel data includes one or more pedestrian trips including an origin and a destination. The computer-executable program code portions also include program code instructions configured to generate a pedestrian flow matrix. The pedestrian flow matrix has one or more pedestrian flow compartments. The computer-executable program code portions further include program code instructions configured to assign at least one of the pedestrian trips to one or more of the pedestrian flow compartments based on the origin and the destination of the given pedestrian trip.

In some embodiments, the program code instructions are further configured to determine an advertisement to provide to a user based on the pedestrian flow matrix. In some embodiments, the one or more pedestrian flow compartments are divided based on at least one of zip code level, link level, or point of interest level. In some embodiments, the one or more pedestrian trips includes temporal information including a time at original and/or a time at destination. In some embodiments, a plurality of pedestrian flow matrices are each generated with a plurality of time ranges. In some embodiments, the set of travel data further includes one or more sub-location points, wherein the sublocation points are intermediate locations between the origin and the destination and at least one sublocation point is used as an origin or destination in determining the assignment of the pedestrian tip to the pedestrian flow compartment.

In still another example embodiment, an apparatus is provided including means for receiving a set of travel data. The set of travel data includes one or more pedestrian trips including an origin and a destination. The apparatus also includes means for generating a pedestrian flow matrix. The pedestrian flow matrix has one or more pedestrian flow compartments. The apparatus further includes means for assigning at least one of the pedestrian trips to one or more of the pedestrian flow compartments based on the origin and the destination of the given pedestrian trip.

In some embodiments, the apparatus also includes means for determining an advertisement to provide to a user based on the pedestrian flow matrix. In some embodiments, the one or more pedestrian flow compartments are divided based on at least one of zip code level, link level, or point of interest level. In some embodiments, the one or more pedestrian trips includes temporal information including a time at original and/or a time at destination.

In some embodiments, a plurality of pedestrian flow matrices are each generated with a plurality of time ranges. In some embodiments, the set of travel data further includes one or more sub-location points. In such an embodiment, the sublocation points are intermediate locations between the origin and the destination. In some embodiments, at least one sublocation point is used as an origin or destination in determining the assignment of the pedestrian tip to the pedestrian flow compartment.

The above summary is provided merely for purposes of summarizing some example embodiments to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the invention. Accordingly, it will be appreciated that the above-described embodiments are merely examples and should not be construed to narrow the scope or spirit of the invention in any way. It will be appreciated that the scope of the invention encompasses many potential embodiments in addition to those here summarized, some of which will be further described below.

