Research on Temporal and Spatial Distribution Pattern of the Night-Time Economy Supported by Multi-Source Data—A Case Study of Xiamen City, Fujian Province, China

The increasing proportion of night consumption in the total daily consumption means the night economy has become an indispensable part of national economic development. However, early social science research on alcohol in the night economy and social science research on the night leisure industry dominated our understanding of the night city. Few researchers have built effective mathematical statistical models to explore the spatio-temporal distribution and regional interactions of the night economy. This paper presents a method to analyze the spatial and temporal distribution pattern of the night economy based on multi-source data. Firstly, K-Means++ and DBSCAN were used to cluster OD points to identify the gathering areas of night activities. Then, the local L-function in “flow space” was used to extract the aggregated flow of each aggregation area and analyze the regional interactions. Finally, the correlation between night activity and night service facilities was calculated by using geographic detector, and night activity and lighting were coupled by the profit and loss value. The research shows that this method can identify the main areas of night activity, dig out the interrelationships at the community level, and find the new night activity gathering points and night economic growth areas in the future. This study extends the current situation that the night economy is limited to theoretical research and research in central urban areas, provides the temporal and spatial distribution of night activities and night lighting supplies from the perspective of big data, and provides a basis for future night economy research, urban planning, and relevant policy issuance.