Social user geolocation based on K-medoids and Gaussian Kernel graph attention network

Accurate user location information is crucial for many location-based network services. However, existing social user geolocation methods using fixed-grid partitioning fail to accurately locate users in rural areas. Additionally, these methods ignore the distances between node features, leading to deviations in users' location features and thus reducing the accuracy of user localization. To address these challenges, this paper proposes a novel social user geolocation method (KMKGAT) based on k-medoids and Gaussian kernel graph attention network. Specifically, KMKGAT employs an anti-noise k-medoids algorithm to cluster user locations, ensuring precise clustering of geographically adjacent users. At the same time, by introducing parameterized Gaussian kernel functions into the graph attention network, KMKGAT learns location-enhanced user features from text-featured social networks, thereby alleviating the problem of location feature deviation. Extensive experiments are conducted on three public Twitter datasets. The experimental results show that the proposed method is superior to the state-of-the-art baselines.

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Publication Details

Journal
Scientific Reports
Published
2026-01-13
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-35532-3
Primary Topic
Human Mobility and Location-Based Analysis
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Social user geolocation based on K-medoids and Gaussian Kernel graph attention network

Pengcheng Li, Yaqiong Qiao, Aobo Jiao, Qingqing Dong et al.
Scientific Reports
Human Mobility and Location-Based Analysis
article

Social user geolocation based on K-medoids and Gaussian Kernel graph attention network

Pengcheng Li, Yaqiong Qiao, Aobo Jiao, Qingqing Dong, Qiongya Wei, Shuaihui Zhu, Jiangtao Ma
article en

Abstract

Accurate user location information is crucial for many location-based network services. However, existing social user geolocation methods using fixed-grid partitioning fail to accurately locate users in rural areas. Additionally, these methods ignore the distances between node features, leading to deviations in users' location features and thus reducing the accuracy of user localization. To address these challenges, this paper proposes a novel social user geolocation method (KMKGAT) based on k-medoids and Gaussian kernel graph attention network. Specifically, KMKGAT employs an anti-noise k-medoids algorithm to cluster user locations, ensuring precise clustering of geographically adjacent users. At the same time, by introducing parameterized Gaussian kernel functions into the graph attention network, KMKGAT learns location-enhanced user features from text-featured social networks, thereby alleviating the problem of location feature deviation. Extensive experiments are conducted on three public Twitter datasets. The experimental results show that the proposed method is superior to the state-of-the-art baselines.

Scientific ReportsVol. 16(1)
Tianjin Normal University (CN), North China University of Water Resources and Electric Power (CN), Nankai University (CN), Beijing University of Technology (CN)
National Natural Science Foundation of China
Openalex Percentile: Top 92%
Human Mobility and Location-Based Analysis
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Social user geolocation based on K-medoids and Gaussian Kernel graph attention network — Pengcheng Li, Yaqiong Qiao, et al. · Scientific Reports (2026) | TGRS Research Map | TGRS