In a world saturated with data and thousands of content pieces flowing past our eyes each day, what has the power to make someone stop, reflect, and act?
For On-Uma Vattanasuk, Head of Corporate Communications and PR at True Corporation Plc., the answer is data—when told in a way that is simple, relatable, emotionally resonant, and reveals overlooked truths. It can spark real change.
This belief lies at the heart of the “Data Playground for Human Impacts,” an open collaborative space co-created by True. Envisioned as a real-life Playground, it invites stakeholders across education, government, and civil society to explore population mobility through mobile phone usage (Mobility Data) and digital service platforms—under strict personal data protection standards.
The goal is to leverage data to unlock new perspectives and drive innovative policies that are accurate, effective, and impactful across economic, social, and environmental domains.
One of the pioneering projects born from this Experimental Playground is “Dynamic Cities via Mobility Data”, which tells the story of people’s daily rhythms in four major Thai cities—making “urban issues” no longer the domain of experts, but a shared concern for anyone who wants to see cities improve.
This is the story behind the concept—and the collective effort of an interdisciplinary team—that turned Mobility Data into a powerful tool for urban transformation.
Data-Driven Collaboration: Using Information to Drive City Development
“This project didn’t begin with the word city,” On-Uma recalls. “It started with a question: How can we use Mobility Data—one of Telco-Tech’s most powerful assets—to create meaningful change in people’s lives and in society?” She believes that if Mobility Data has long been leveraged for business, it can be repurposed to tell broader stories about society and the urban experience.
This notion evolved into Dynamic Cities via Mobility Data, a collaboration between True (with Mobility Data and analytics expertise via True Digital Group), the Urban Design and Development Center (UddC) of Chulalongkorn University (experts in spatial context), and Punch Up, a data storytelling studio skilled in visualization and accessible narrative. Together, they created an interactive website for the public to explore the data firsthand.
A New Perspective from the Data Analytics Team
Before data reaches UddC for analysis, it first goes through the Connected Industry Solution (CIS) team at True Digital Group. These experts in telecom data analytics process network information under the highest data security and privacy standards (PDPA), delivering insights to a wide range of sectors including banking, insurance, logistics, fintech, and now, urban planning.
“CIS’s strength lies in integrating telecom network data with True’s full ecosystem. This allows for more comprehensive behavioral analysis than what is typically available,” says Thanachart Puapan, the project’s data analysis lead.
The project marked a shift in direction for the team, expanding their focus beyond business applications into the realm of city and social development. Metis Kongrukgreatiyos and Aekachai Phanomtip led the effort in processing and delivering the data. Working with UddC marked a pivotal moment, as it gave them the opportunity to collaborate with urban designers for the first time.
“The special aspect of this project is the analysis of big data, which is divided into multiple data sets, with a focus on geolocation data — the type of data UddC needs for further analysis. This allows us to see information on a new scale, one that presents greater challenges,” Mathis explained.
The exchange of ideas throughout the months-long series of meetings allowed the data team to witness how their data could be transformed through visualization — and realize that their data could truly “tell the story of the city.”
“When we saw the data come to life in maps and infographics, it changed everything,” says Ekachai. “We weren’t just seeing numbers anymore—we were seeing stories about real people and real places. It opened our minds to new possibilities for how telecom data can be applied to real-world problems.”
Communicating to Spark Societal Ripples
“Good communication shouldn’t stop at raising awareness. It must lead to real, tangible change,” says On-Uma. This belief shaped the project’s communication strategy, which included three main pillars:
Visualized Data Storytelling: A website that uses visuals and narratives to make data easy to understand and emotionally engaging.
Spark Dialogue via Forum: Creating a platform for open dialogue and shared questioning, turning data into a starting point for meaningful conversations.
Engage People as Stakeholders of the City: Launching a social media campaign that connects urban data to people’s everyday lives, and sparks awareness of their role as active participants in shaping the city.
This multidimensional effort was led by True’s corporate communications team, with Narit Chumvigrant managing the overall execution and Pukwalun Chotpitchanan heading up the website, while closely collaborating with the storytelling team at Punch Up.
After the project launched at True Digital Park West on March 27, 2025, the team continued rolling out campaigns. These included animated infographics, narrative articles, photography series, interactive posts, and both documentary-style and vlog-style videos—all aimed at making urban data more accessible to the general public.
From the perspective of True’s corporate communications lead, On-Uma describes this project as “just the beginning,” as the potential of Mobility Data still holds many more possibilities to be explored.
“Thailand may be late compared to some countries in using Mobility Data for social development. But this initiative is an important spark,” she says. “It paves the way for a new model of data communication that can lead to real social change—and we’ve already seen promising feedback. Many more projects await.”
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Explore insights from ‘Dynamic Cities via Mobility Data’ Project at https://www.true.th/blog/data-playground/dynamic-cities/
Join the conversation at Data Playground for Human Impacts — a collaborative community dedicated to leveraging data to drive positive social change and create a better future for all: www.facebook.com/groups/dataplayground/
