PLANNING AND LEADERSHIP FOR A BETTER WORLD
PLANNING AND LEADERSHIP FOR A BETTER WORLD In the first part of this series, we discussed several applications that are improving information about public transportation systems such as buses and trains. Similar technologies are also being used to optimize travel by car and bike.
While municipal budgets often lack the funds for high-tech sensors and tracking systems, most cities welcome any information they can get about their transportation systems. As it turns out, one of the most ubiquitous devices in a city—the smartphone—could be a source of valuable data about various infrastructures.
Using your phone’s GPS, accelerometer and other sensors, Biketastic records both your biking route and conditions like road damage, noise levels and traffic. (Source: CENS)
In Boston, a new application called Street Bump takes advantage of phone sensors like the gyroscope and accelerometer to track potholes throughout the city. When the application is activated, it identifies potholes when a user drives over them and then sends information—including time, location, orientation, speed, bearing and acceleration—to a central server.
Using the information, the city can quickly respond to potholes and accurately decide which roads are more damaged than others.
Previous sensor-based systems for tracking potholes are expensive and time-intensive to implement.
“It is unlikely that we are going to be able to invest in that sensor system. But what we’ve recognized is that many, many constituents have already invested in a sensor platform,” Chris Osgood, co-chairman of the Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics in Boston, told The New York Times.
UCLA's CENS (Center for Embedded Networked Sensing) is working on similar application-based projects to improve city infrastructure.
CENS is creating an application that allows bikers to track their bike route with GPS and enter geo-tagged notes and images. The application uses phone sensors to estimate road and traffic conditions, as well as noise levels.
A pilot version of the application, Biketastic, helps users choose the best route for their purposes and share routes with other bikers. It uses a phone’s GPS, accelerometer and other sensors to record both a bike’s route and conditions like road damage, noise levels and traffic. It then compiles data from different users to determine the safest and most pleasant route to take.
In a city like Los Angeles, where air quality, traffic conditions and weather are all major factors in commuting, the application could encourage biking by optimizing routes.
As smartphone technology improves and more people use the devices, these types of tracking systems are likely to become more common throughout the world. Have you already used one of these or a similar application? Let us know in the comments section below.
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