Hybrid Learning Model of Global–Local Graph Attention Network and XGBoost for Inferring Origin–Destination Flows

Origin–destination (OD) flows are essential for urban studies, yet their acquisition is often hampered by high costs and privacy constraints. Prevailing inference methodologies inadequately address latent spatial dependencies between non-contiguous and distant areas, which are useful for understanding modern transportation systems with expanding regional interactions. To address these challenges, this paper propose a hybrid learning model with the Global–Local Graph Attention Network and XGBoost (GLGAT-XG) to infer OD flows from both global and local geographic contextual information. First, we represent the study area as an undirected weighted graph. Second, we design the GLGAT to encode spatial correlation and urban feature information into the embeddings within a multitask setup. Specifically, the GLGAT employs a graph transformer to capture global spatial correlations and a graph attention network to extract local spatial correlations followed by weighted fusion to ensure validity. Finally, OD flow inference is performed by XGBoost based on the GLGAT-generated embeddings. The experimental results of multiple real-world datasets demonstrate an 8% improvement in RMSE, 7% in MAE, and 10% in CPC over baselines. Additionally, we produce a multi-scale OD dataset in Xian, China, to further reveal spatial-scale effects. This research builds on existing OD flow inference methodologies and offers significant practical implications for urban planning and sustainable development.