mlsanityData to 7 Oct 2026

ControlTraj: Controllable Trajectory Generation with Topology-Constrained Diffusion Model

arXiv 2404.15380 ↗First posted 23 Apr 2024cs.LG cs.AIcited by 48

On the map: Diffusion models → Diffusion and flow policies for robotics

Abstract (arXiv)

Generating trajectory data is among promising solutions to addressing privacy concerns, collection costs, and proprietary restrictions usually associated with human mobility analyses. However, existing trajectory generation methods are still in their infancy due to the inherent diversity and unpredictability of human activities, grappling with issues such as fidelity, flexibility, and generalizability. To overcome these obstacles, we propose ControlTraj, a Controllable Trajectory generation framework with the topology-constrained diffusion model. Distinct from prior approaches, ControlTraj utilizes a diffusion model to generate high-fidelity trajectories while integrating the structural constraints of road network topology to guide the geographical outcomes. Specifically, we develop a novel road segment autoencoder to extract fine-grained road segment embedding. The encoded features, along with trip attributes, are subsequently merged into the proposed geographic denoising UNet architecture, named GeoUNet, to synthesize geographic trajectories from white noise. Through experimentation across three real-world data settings, ControlTraj demonstrates its ability to produce human-directed, high-fidelity trajectory generation with adaptability to unexplored geographical contexts.

Key facts. Cited by 48 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). Placed in Diffusion and flow policies for robotics, one of 14 directions in Diffusion models. Builds on 23 of its 65 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 23 Apr 2024.

Builds on

23 of 65 references.

References · 23

  1. 2017Attention Is All You Needcited by 59,932
  2. 2018BERT: Pre-training of Deep Bidirectional Transformers for Language Understandingcited by 40,204
  3. 2021Learning Transferable Visual Models From Natural Language Supervisioncited by 33,456
  4. 2020An Image is Worth 16x16 Words: Transformers for Image Recognition at Scalecited by 29,915
  5. 2020Denoising Diffusion Probabilistic Modelscited by 20,851
  6. 2015U-Net: Convolutional Networks for Biomedical Image Segmentationcited by 19,604
  7. 2020Denoising Diffusion Implicit Modelscited by 9,655
  8. 2021Diffusion Models Beat GANs on Image Synthesiscited by 8,185
  9. 2015Deep Unsupervised Learning using Nonequilibrium Thermodynamicscited by 7,005
  10. 2021GLIDE: Towards Photorealistic Image Generation and Editing with Text-Guided Diffusion Modelscited by 3,595
  11. 2020DiffWave: A Versatile Diffusion Model for Audio Synthesiscited by 1,339
  12. 2019Graph WaveNet for Deep Spatial-Temporal Graph Modelingcited by 820
11 more
  1. 2016Wide & Deep Learning for Recommender Systemscited by 745
  2. 2020A Survey on Deep Learning for Human Mobilitycited by 87
  3. 2023DiffSTG: Probabilistic Spatio-Temporal Graph Forecasting with Denoising Diffusion Modelscited by 81
  4. 2021DL-Traff: Survey and Benchmark of Deep Learning Models for Urban Traffic Predictioncited by 73
  5. 2020Deep Gravity: enhancing mobility flows generation with deep neural networks and geographic informationcited by 58
  6. 2020A Survey on Trajectory Data Management, Analytics, and Learningcited by 41
  7. 2024Trajectory Data Management and Mining: A Survey from Deep Learning to the LLM Eracited by 23
  8. 2023Towards Unifying Diffusion Models for Probabilistic Spatio-Temporal Graph Learningcited by 20
  9. 2023LDPTrace: Locally Differentially Private Trajectory Synthesiscited by 16
  10. 2018Learning to Route with Sparse Trajectory Sets---Extended Versioncited by 14
  11. 2018Crime in Urban Areas: A Data Mining Perspectivecited by 9

Built on by

Cited by year (2026 to 7 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2024: 7; 2025: 24; 2026: 17.

48 papers.

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  1. 2024A Survey on Diffusion Models for Time Series and Spatio-Temporal Datacited by 66
  2. 2024G3: An Effective and Adaptive Framework for Worldwide Geolocalization Using Large Multi-Modality Modelscited by 33
  3. 2025Geolocation with Real Human Gameplay Data: A Large-Scale Dataset and Human-Like Reasoning Frameworkcited by 23
  4. 2025Foundation Models for Spatio-Temporal Data Science: A Tutorial and Surveycited by 23
  5. 2024UniTraj: Learning a Universal Trajectory Foundation Model from Billion-Scale Worldwide Tracescited by 18
  6. 2024MM-Path: Multi-modal, Multi-granularity Path Representation Learning -- Extended Versioncited by 14
  7. 2025GRE Suite: Geo-localization Inference via Fine-Tuned Vision-Language Models and Enhanced Reasoning Chainscited by 14
  8. 2025GeoGen: A Two-stage Coarse-to-Fine Framework for Fine-grained Synthetic Location-based Social Network Trajectory Generationcited by 12
  9. 2024Diffusion Transformers as Open-World Spatiotemporal Foundation Modelscited by 10
  10. 2025POI-Enhancer: An LLM-based Semantic Enhancement Framework for POI Representation Learningcited by 10
  11. 2025Unraveling Spatio-Temporal Foundation Models via the Pipeline Lens: A Comprehensive Reviewcited by 10
  12. 2024Geo-Llama: Leveraging LLMs for Human Mobility Trajectory Generation with Spatiotemporal Constraintscited by 7
36 more
  1. 2025Holistic Semantic Representation for Navigational Trajectory Generationcited by 7
  2. 2025Modeling Human Gaze Behavior with Diffusion Models for Unified Scanpath Predictioncited by 7
  3. 2025ParkDiffusion: Heterogeneous Multi-Agent Multi-Modal Trajectory Prediction for Automated Parking using Diffusion Modelscited by 5
  4. 2025BrainMRDiff: A Diffusion Model for Anatomically Consistent Brain MRI Synthesiscited by 4
  5. 2025TransferTraj: A Vehicle Trajectory Learning Model for Region and Task Transferabilitycited by 4
  6. 2025Leveraging the Spatial Hierarchy: Coarse-to-fine Trajectory Generation via Cascaded Hybrid Diffusioncited by 4
  7. 2026TrajFlow: Nation-wide Pseudo GPS Trajectory Generation with Flow Matching Modelscited by 4
  8. 2026SynHAT: A Two-stage Coarse-to-Fine Diffusion Framework for Synthesizing Human Activity Tracescited by 4
  9. 2025Spatio-Temporal Trajectory Foundation Model - Recent Advances and Future Directionscited by 3
  10. 2026Learning to Wander: Improving the Global Image Geolocation Ability of LMMs via Actionable Reasoningcited by 3
  11. 2025Towards Physics-informed Diffusion for Anomaly Detection in Trajectoriescited by 2
  12. 2025UniMove: A Unified Model for Multi-city Human Mobility Predictioncited by 2
  13. 2026Bus-Conditioned Zero-Shot Trajectory Generation via Task Arithmeticcited by 2
  14. 2026TrajDLM: Topology-Aware Block Diffusion Language Model for Trajectory Generationcited by 2
  15. 2025Learning Generalized and Flexible Trajectory Models from Omni-Semantic Supervisioncited by 1
  16. 2025LLMs Meet Cross-Modal Time Series Analytics: Overview and Directionscited by 1
  17. 2025MoveFM-R: Advancing Mobility Foundation Models via Language-driven Semantic Reasoningcited by 1
  18. 2025Multi-Scale Diffusion Transformer for Jointly Simulating User Mobility and Mobile Traffic Patterncited by 1
  19. 2026UrbanVerse: Learning Urban Region Representation Across Cities and Taskscited by 1
  20. 2026A Dual Perspective on Synthetic Trajectory Generators: Utility Framework and Privacy Vulnerabilitiescited by 1
  21. 2024Learning Satellite Pattern-of-Life Identification: A Diffusion-based Approachcited by 0
  22. 2025DiffMove: Group Mobility Tendency Enhanced Trajectory Recovery via Diffusion Modelcited by 0
  23. 2025ProDiff: Prototype-Guided Diffusion for Minimal Information Trajectory Imputationcited by 0
  24. 2025Traj-Transformer: Diffusion Models with Transformer for GPS Trajectory Generationcited by 0
  25. 2025Learning to Attack: Uncovering Privacy Risks in Sequential Data Releasescited by 0
  26. 2025Learning to Land Anywhere: Transferable Generative Models for Aircraft Trajectoriescited by 0
  27. 2026TrajGPT-R: Generating Urban Mobility Trajectory with Reinforcement Learning-Enhanced Generative Pre-trained Transformercited by 0
  28. 2026Learning Demographic-Conditioned Mobility Trajectories with Aggregate Supervisioncited by 0
  29. 2026TRACE: Trajectory Recovery with State Propagation Diffusion for Urban Mobilitycited by 0
  30. 2026InsTraj: Instructing Diffusion Models with Travel Intentions to Generate Real-world Trajectoriescited by 0
  31. 2026CityTrajBench: A Unified Benchmark for City-Scale Vehicle Trajectory Generationcited by 0
  32. 2026Automated Quality Assessment of Geospatial Vector Data: A GeoAI Approach using Spatial Representation Learningcited by 0
  33. 2026Learning Spatio-Temporal Foundation Models from Pure Synthetic Datacited by 0
  34. 2026Editable Map-Conditioned Trajectory Generation for Human Mobility Simulationcited by 0
  35. 2026Plan-to-Synthesis: Cross-City Human Mobility Generation via Semantic Latent Flow Matchingcited by 0
  36. 2026Relative Transitions, Not Absolute Destinations: A Transfer-and-Ground Framework for Target-Trajectory-Free Human Mobility Generationcited by 0

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  1. 2025Dynamic Population Distribution Aware Human Trajectory Generation with Diffusion Model
  2. 2024Diff-RNTraj: A Structure-aware Diffusion Model for Road Network-constrained Trajectory Generation
  3. 2023DiffTraj: Generating GPS Trajectory with Diffusion Probabilistic Model
  4. 2024Map2Traj: Street Map Piloted Zero-shot Trajectory Generation with Diffusion Model
  5. 2026Coarse-to-Fine Multi-Resolution Diffusion Models for Trajectory Generation in Urban Systems
  6. 2025One Fits All: General Mobility Trajectory Modeling via Masked Conditional Diffusion
  7. 2024TrajWeaver: Trajectory Recovery with State Propagation Diffusion Model
  8. 2024Controllable Diverse Sampling for Diffusion Based Motion Behavior Forecasting