On Accounting for the Interplay of Kinetic and Non- Kinetic Aspects in Population Mobility Models

Several important applications are placing demands on satisfactory characterization of the bi-directional interplay between kinetic and non-kinetic aspects in the mobility of people and commodities. Example applications include emergency planning, energy planning, and policy making, all of which require new holistic approaches for capturing the interplay. Accurate characterization of the interplay requires integration of three distinct components, namely, data, models and computation. The availability of new sources of high-resolution data, and of detailed models together with recent advances in scalable computational methods now permits accurate modeling and simulation. This paper serves to highlight and argue that the interplay can in fact be captured in a high level of detail in simulations, enabled by the availability of new data, models and computational capabilities. Some of the challenges that are encountered in incorporating the interplay are outlined and plausible solution approaches are described in the context of large-scale scenarios involving mobility of people and commodities.