Integrating mobile network data with official mobility statistics: The DREAM_PACE and MIND data fusion framework for the Bologna metropolitan area

This paper presents a replicable framework for integrating Mobile Network Data (MND) with Floating Car Data (FCD), an ad hoc mobility survey and official administrative registers to support mobility statistics and transport planning. Developed within the DREAM_PACE and MIND projects and applied to the Metropolitan City of Bologna (Italy), the framework uses a structured data-fusion pipeline to produce origin–destination matrices, distinguish residents from non-resident users and estimate the intra-zonal trip component through calibrated gravity models. Indicators of potential trip production and attraction are used to classify the analytical zones by mobility demand intensity, identifying low-demand areas through a data-driven operationalisation of the criteria set by Italian national guidance (DM 157/2018) and the Transport Regulation Authority Resolution No. 48/2017. Fused estimates are used to define service levels for demand-responsive transport (DRT) consistent with the metropolitan Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP). The integration of multiple data sources reveals approximately 3.7 million weekday trips in November 2024 – approximately 1.17 million more than previous survey-based estimates – largely because it explicitly accounts for non-resident and crossing trips. We discuss implementation choices, quality safeguards and limitations, and provide a modular workflow that National Statistical Offices and local authorities can adapt to produce timely, policy-relevant mobility indicators.