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Department of Geography College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Spatial networks lab

Spatial Networks • Human Mobility • Cities • AI • Geospatial Data

About the Lab

The Spatial Networks Lab at the University of Florida, led by Dr. Yujie Hu, Associate Professor of Spatial Networks, studies how people, places, and infrastructure are connected through spatial networks and how the structure of these networks shapes mobility, accessibility, and interactions in urban systems. By analyzing large-scale geospatial data—from census surveys to digital mobility traces—the lab develops computational approaches that integrate spatial network analysis, artificial intelligence, and machine learning to uncover patterns of connectivity and movement across space. Our research aims to translate spatial data into insights that inform policy and decision-making in transportation, urban planning, public health, and community resilience.

Selected Publications

A complete and up-to-date list of publications is available on Google Scholar.

  • Jing, Y., Hu, Y., Chen, C., & Cohan, D. S. (2026). Evaluating human mortality impacts from air pollution as US commuting reaches its extremes. Journal of Transport Geography, 131, 104541.
  • Wang, J., & Hu, Y. (2025). Visualizing complex mobility patterns using backbone networks. Transportation, 1-23.
  • Jing, Y., & Hu, Y. (2024). Multiscale complex network analysis of commuting efficiency: Urban connectivity, hierarchy, and labor market. Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 114(8), 1681-1692.
  • Zhang, F., Fan, Z., Kang, Y., Hu, Y., & Ratti, C. (2021). “Perception bias”: Deciphering a mismatch between urban crime and perception of safety. Landscape and Urban Planning, 207, 104003.
  • Hu, Y., Wang, F., & Xierali, I. M. (2018). Automated delineation of hospital service areas and hospital referral regions by modularity optimization. Health Services Research, 53(1), 236-255.
  • Hu, Y., Miller, H. J., & Li, X. (2014). Detecting and analyzing mobility hotspots using surface networks. Transactions in GIS, 18(6), 911-935.

People

Director

Dr. Yujie Hu photo

Dr. Yujie Hu
Associate Professor
Graduate Coordinator
Department of Geography
yujiehu@ufl.edu

Dr. Yujie Hu is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography at the University of Florida. His research focuses on spatial networks, human mobility, and accessibility in urban systems. He develops computational approaches for analyzing spatial networks by integrating network science, artificial intelligence, and machine learning. His work spans both methodological research on spatial network modeling and empirical studies of spatial interactions in domains such as transportation systems, community resilience, public health, and crime. His research has been supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Transportation, and other funding agencies.

Curriculum Vitae
Personal Webpage

Current Students

Former Students

Research Visualizations

This interactive visualization shows the Florida commuting backbone network, which highlights statistically significant commuting connections between census tracts across the state. For methodological details, see: Wang, J., & Hu, Y. (2025). Visualizing complex mobility patterns using backbone networks. Transportation, 1-23.

Data & Software

The Spatial Networks Lab develops datasets and software tools to support research on human mobility, spatial networks, and urban systems. Selected resources are listed below. For the full list of datasets, tools, and research code, please visit the lab’s GitHub Page.

  • U.S. ZIP Code Drive Time Matrix (Download)

Toolkit and dataset for estimating a nationwide origin–destination drive time matrix between ZIP code areas in the United States.

  • U.S. Commuting Backbone Network Dataset (Download)

Nationwide commuting backbone network dataset identifying statistically significant tract-to-tract commuting connections and their associated backbone road segments in the United States.