Modeling human migration across spatial scales in Colombia

Human mobility, both short and long term, are important considerations in
the study of numerous systems. Economic and technological advances have
led to a more interconnected global community, further increasing the need
for considerations of human mobility. While data on human mobility are
better recorded in many developed countries, availability of such data
remains limited in many low- and middle-income countries around the world,
particularly at the fine temporal and spatial scales required by many
applications. In this study, we used 5-year census-based internal
migration microdata for 32 departments in Colombia (i.e., Admin-1 level)
to develop a novel spatial interaction modeling approach for estimating
migration, at a finer spatial scale, among the 1,122 municipalities in the
country (i.e., Admin-2 level). Our modeling approach bridges a significant
gap in the availability of migration data at administrative unit levels
finer than those at which migration data are typically recorded. Due to
the widespread availability of census-based migration microdata at the
Admin-1 level, our modeling approach opens up for the possibilities of
modeling migration patterns at Admin-2 and Admin-3 levels across many
other countries where such data are currently lacking.