ABSTRACT
Besides the data collection efforts in Switzerland several similar efforts have been undertaken in different parts of the world with the motivation to investigate influences among socio-demographics, personal network characteristics, mobility biographical aspects, social network geographies and spatial patterns between social contacts. In the East York area of Toronto, Canada, data were collected as part of the Connected Lives Study, a study about people's communication patterns. The study consisted of two stages: a random sample survey with 350 respondents from the East York area in Toronto, and interviews and observations of a sub-sample of them. Based on a random sample of the Zurich population, the participants were recruited on the telephone. The descriptive analysis highlighted the similarities and differences on the data collected from the different countries, in particular regarding the tie distance distribution. Substitution patterns for different contact modes become important as soon as distances surpass daily mobility patterns.
