{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T01:42:14Z","timestamp":1760146934057,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":44,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,12,30]],"date-time":"2024-12-30T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1735516800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["BDCC"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Understanding people\u2019s face-to-face interactions is crucial for effective infectious disease management. Traditional contact tracing, often relying on interviews or smartphone applications, faces limitations such as incomplete recall, low adoption rates, and privacy concerns. This study proposes utilizing anonymized Call Detail Records (CDRs) as a substitute for in-person meetings. We assume that when two individuals engage in a phone call connected to the same cell tower, they are likely to meet shortly thereafter. Testing this assumption, we evaluated two hypotheses. The first hypothesis\u2014that such co-located interactions occur in a workplace setting\u2014achieved 83% agreement, which is considered a strong indication of reliability. The second hypothesis\u2014that calls made during these co-location events are shorter than usual\u2014achieved 86% agreement, suggesting an almost perfect reliability level. These results demonstrate that CDR-based co-location events can serve as a reliable substitute for in-person interactions and thus hold significant potential for enhancing contact tracing and supporting public health efforts.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/bdcc9010004","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,12,31]],"date-time":"2024-12-31T13:26:25Z","timestamp":1735651585000},"page":"4","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Face-to-Face Interactions Estimated Using Mobile Phone Data to Support Contact Tracing Operations"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"9","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7218-9082","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Silvino Pedro","family":"Cumbane","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Geoinformatics, Department of Urban Planning and Environment, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Teknikringen 10A, SE-114 28 Stockholm, Sweden"},{"name":"Division of Geographic Information Sciences, Department of Mathematics and Informatics, Eduardo Mondlane University, Julius Nyerere Street, Maputo 3453, Mozambique"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1164-8403","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Gy\u00f6z\u00f6","family":"Gid\u00f3falvi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Geoinformatics, Department of Urban Planning and Environment, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Teknikringen 10A, SE-114 28 Stockholm, Sweden"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0004-5519-5412","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Osvaldo Fernando","family":"Cossa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Sciences and Technology, Universidade Aberta, 1269-001 Lisbon, Portugal"},{"name":"Department of Service Quality, Instituto Nacional das Comunica\u00e7\u00f5es de Mo\u00e7ambique-INCM, Pra\u00e7a 16 de Junho, Maputo 848, Mozambique"}]},{"given":"Afonso Madivadua","family":"J\u00fanior","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Service Quality, Instituto Nacional das Comunica\u00e7\u00f5es de Mo\u00e7ambique-INCM, Pra\u00e7a 16 de Junho, Maputo 848, Mozambique"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2681-5035","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Nuno","family":"Sousa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Sciences and Technology, Universidade Aberta, 1269-001 Lisbon, Portugal"},{"name":"Institute for Systems Engineering and Computers at Coimbra (INESCC), 3030-790 Coimbra, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8434-4887","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Frederico","family":"Branco","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Science and Technology, Universidade de Tr\u00e1s-os-Montes e Alto Douro, 5000-801 Vila Real, Portugal"},{"name":"Institute for Systems and Computer Engineering, Technology and Science (INESC TEC), 4200-465 Porto, Portugal"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,12,30]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"WHO (1999). 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