Cyberspace Search Intentions as Leading Indicators for Proactive Traffic Hotspot Detection

Abstract

This study proposes a cyber-physical data-driven framework for proactive detection of highway traffic hotspots and hot regions. The proposed framework bridges users' online search records in cyberspace as early indicator. To handle large-scale and irregular search records, we propose an Origin Destination Time (ODT) tensor model to represent the spatio-temporal structure of route search data and accelerate computation. Using destination-wise inflow sequences derived from these records, we develop a systematic method to automatically identify anomalous surges that indicate emerging traffic hotspots and further the regions. To validate the framework, we conduct experiments using a one-year real-world dataset covering 2,728 interchange (IC) nodes within a highway network. Furthermore, we integrate and compare search data with actual traffic volumes for evaluation. The results reveal a strong correlation between search intensity and traffic flow, demonstrating that online search behavior serves as a reliable proxy for anticipating traffic dynamics. These findings suggest that route search records in cyberspace can be effectively utilized for proactive traffic monitoring and highlight the potential for early prediction of congestion patterns.

Accepted by IEEE SMC 2026