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Monday, April 27, 2026
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Hoeyun Kwon Publishes New Research on Mobility, Data Accuracy, and Inequality
April 27, 2026
Hoeyun Kwon, assistant professor in the Department of Earth, Environmental, and Geospatial Sciences, has recently published in two leading journals in her field, the Annals of the American Association of Geographers and Transactions in GIS.
Her research, at the intersection of geography, large geospatial data analysis, and health and environmental inequalities, aims to improve data gathering methods to better reflect lived conditions on the ground and policymaking.
In “How We Measure Mobility Matters: Comparing Mobility Change Metrics and Their Associations with Social Vulnerability During the COVID-19 Pandemic” (Annals), she and a colleague showed that the way mobility is measured shapes how we interpret behavioral change, especially during events like the COVID-19 pandemic and natural disasters. They found that residents of more socially vulnerable neighborhoods, when advised to reduce their movement or remain at home, are often less able to comply compared residents of better-resourced areas.
In the second study, “Why It's So Hard to Match Residence Addresses to Census Blocks—And How to Fix It,” with Kwon and colleagues examined how small errors in address data can misplace populations on maps—sometimes in locations like highways—and outlines practical ways to correct these errors so that fine-grained health and environmental analyses are more accurate.
“Geography is far more than just locations on a map. It is a lens that allows us to see how people and their environments are connected,” Kwon said. “It helps us answer the 'where' and 'why' of social and environmental issues. By looking at the world through a geographic lens, we can find hidden patterns like why certain neighborhoods face higher health risks and use those insights to create a fairer, healthier society.”