Mobile Methods in Human Geography
Summary
Mobile methods constitute an evolving suite of approaches in human geography that seek to understand social, cultural and spatial processes through researchers’ movement alongside participants or by tracing their trajectories. By foregrounding the embodied, sensory and relational dimensions of place, these methods move beyond static observation to capture the dynamic interplay between people, environments and technologies. Examples include walking interviews, go-along interviews where researchers accompany individuals in their everyday mobilities, and participatory mapping techniques that document lived experiences of space. Mobile methods illuminate how routines, emotions and materialities converge as people negotiate urban streets, landscapes or institutional settings. They also reveal power dynamics, as movement can equalise or reinforce hierarchies between researcher and participant. Technological advances in GPS tracking, mobile ethnography and qualitative geographic information systems (GIS) have further enriched this field, enabling real-time geolocation of narratives and the visualisation of embodied experiences. With applications from transport planning and heritage studies to organisational sociology and environmental research, mobile methods have become central to analysing the spatiality of social life and informing participatory, place-based policymaking.
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Mobile Methods in Human Geography publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in mobile methods in human geography across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Mobile methods: Research techniques that involve the movement of researcher and/or participant to study spatial and social processes in situ.
Walking interview: A qualitative interview conducted while walking through locations meaningful to the participant, eliciting embodied and sensory insights.
Go-along interview: A mode of mobile interview in which the researcher accompanies the participant in their routine mobility, engaging in conversation in real time.
Qualitative GIS: The integration of qualitative data and geographic information systems to spatially analyse narratives, photographs and other non-numerical sources.
Map elicitation: A participatory method where participants interact with maps or spatial visualisations to reflect on and interpret their experiences of place.
References
- Walking interviews in organizational research. European Management Journal (2024).
- The potential of combining qualitative GIS and map elicitation in daily mobility studies. Journal of Transport Geography (2023).
- Using Walking / Go Along Interviews With People in Vulnerable Situations: A Synthesized Review of the Research Literature. International Journal of Qualitative Methods (2023).
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