Estimation of mobile device count

An apparatus for estimating a count of a plurality of mobile devices, the apparatus comprising:

• a receiver configured to receive one or more probe data points including a location, a session identifier, and a timestamp, wherein the one or more probe data points are generated by the plurality of mobile devices within an observation area and during an observation duration;
• a probe data aggregator configured to construct a trajectory including the one or more probe data points having a same session identifier and generated by one mobile device of the plurality of the mobile devices, wherein a path of the trajectory is based on the location of the one or more probe data points;
• a trajectory normalizer configured to calculate a trajectory duration for the trajectory based on timestamps of the one or more probe data points having the same session identifier and calculate a normalized trajectory from the trajectory duration and a predetermined observation duration;
• and
• a mobile device counter configured to estimate the count of the plurality of mobile devices including at least the normalized trajectory of the one mobile device of the plurality of mobile devices, the count reflecting that the one mobile device of the plurality of mobile devices is counted as a single mobile device that generated the same session identifier.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium including instructions that, when executed by a processor, are operable to:

• receive one or more probe data points including a location, a session identifier, and a timestamp, wherein the one or more probe data points are generated by a plurality of mobile devices within an observation area and during an observation duration;
• construct a trajectory including the one or more probe data having a same session identifier and generated by one mobile device of the plurality of the mobile devices, wherein a path of the trajectory is based on the location of the one or more probe data points;
• calculate a trajectory duration based on timestamps of the one or more probe data points having the same session identifier included in the trajectory;
• calculate a normalized trajectory from division of each trajectory duration by a predetermined duration;
• and
• determine a count of the plurality of mobile devices for the predetermined duration based on a sum of the normalized trajectory, including at least the normalized trajectory of the one mobile device of the plurality of mobile devices, the count reflecting that the one mobile device of the plurality of mobile devices is counted as a single mobile device that generated the same session identifier.