Session 02 - Initial Thoughts on Creating a Design Brief for Urban Informatics Projects

1- Identifying a general problem area

Urban
Mobility as
a general
problem
area

Session 02 - Initial Thoughts on Creating a Design Brief for Urban Informatics Projects
 1- Identifying a general problem area

Urban mobility as general problem area

Conventional responses focused on production of space

Intensification and expansion of

Reducing the need for urban trips by designing mixed- Financial penalty mechanisms
infrastructures of mobility, focusing
use neighborhoods for traffic reduction
on production of space

Socio-
Spatial Financial Temporal
economical
limitations limitations limitations
limitations

What about
social
interaction?

Session 02 - Initial Thoughts on Creating a Design Brief for Urban Informatics Projects
1- Identifying a general problem area

Urban mobility as general problem area

Progressive responses focused on consumption of space

Optimization of use of existing infrastructures of mobility, focusing on lifestyle choices and consumption of space

Adding a virtual depth to Reducing physical circulation

Creating social awareness using potentials of on-line social
existing infrastructure to make it by providing platforms for
networking model
more efficient virtual connections

A move from “My choice of Creating a social reward

mobility has an impact on me” mechanism as opposed to
to “my choice of mobility has an merely focusing on financial
impact on others and vice versa” penalty mechanisms

Session 02 - Initial Thoughts on Creating a Design Brief for Urban Informatics Projects
1- Identifying a general problem area

Urban mobility as general problem area

Challenges and possible areas of technologically enhanced interventions

• Zero-carbon modes of urban transportation

Fuel-base urban mobility energy • Low-carbon modes of urban transportation
consumption paradigm and its
negative environmental impact

• Optimized travel routes based on real-time state of traffic congestion

• Optimized traffic management using situated technologies
• Real-time, dynamic traffic control
• Single-driver, private, vehicle mobility choice vs. public transport
• Time wasted during commute
• Introducing a mobile life-style
• Stuck in traffic, have some fun scenarios
Traffic congestion
• Who needs to go there if you are already there, or, what you need is already here?!
• technologically enhanced distribution networks
• E-commerce, E-shopping, E-government, E-living
• Tele-presence and connecting via distance in multi-modal, high-resolution, culturally
and psychologically satisfying fashion

Session 02 - Initial Thoughts on Creating a Design Brief for Urban Informatics Projects
 2- Narrowing down to a problem set

-Single-driver, private, vehicle mobility choice vs. public transport

Problem: Public transport is,

-socially un-cool -congested and uncomfortable
• -Socio-economic image of • -out-of-vehicle wait in extreme
owning a car weather conditions
• -Dear fellow rider, I need some
personal space!
-un-reliable and un-certain
• -unknown wait time
• -un-reliable wait schedule
- inflexible both in terms of time
and space
• - public transport commuters
need to seek to a multi-modal trip
plan
• -Multi-modal transport systems
require a fixed infrastructure of
distributed hubs where change of
mode of transportation is
accommodated
• -fleet scarcity and wait times

Session 02 - Initial Thoughts on Creating a Design Brief for Urban Informatics Projects
 2- Narrowing down to a problem set
-Single-driver, private, vehicle mobility choice vs. public transport
-Solution: A ubiquitous, multi-modal public transport, offering a quality rider’s experience

-Solution: A ubiquitous, multi-modal public transport, offering a quality rider’s experience

-Making public -Real-time -Making public -Making public -Making public -Making public -Making public
transport information about transport Flexible transport On- transport Reliable transport Socio- transport
Transparent traffic congestion • -Can transfer demand • Efficient culturally Cool comfortable both
• People know the • -Real-time hubs for multi- • -Routes that management • -Public transport when you wait and
public transport information about modal urban chage based on • Well-informed as interaction when you ride
as if it is a private weather condition mobility become trends in requests use field for • -Technological
mode of • -Real-time floating initiated by users technologically enhancement of
commute information about or travel mediated fleeting stops and
routes and current origin/destination encounters transportation
position of the information between strangers hubs
public transport • -Public transport, • - Technological
fleet as a collectively enhancement of
• -Real-time enjoyed, the vehicles
information about technologically
origin/destination mediated, public
of riders and their spectacle
numbers • -Public transport
• -Real-time as safe
information • -Bus-is-the-new-
regarding crowd Porsche. Can a
numbers and subway car be as
distributions sexy and as
empowering as a
2011 Bugatti?!
• -Public transport
as a destination in
its own right as
opposed to a path
to destination

Session 02 - Initial Thoughts on Creating a Design Brief for Urban Informatics Projects
3. Identifying Relevant Urban Information Relevant Urban Information
-Problem :Single-driver, private, vehicle mobility choice vs. public transport
-Solution :A ubiquitous, multi-modal public transport, offering a quality rider’s experience -weather condition
-traffic/congestion

-public transport schedule, current arrival

times, current travel times, current route
and position on-route

-number of riders

-rider’s origin destination information

-crowd spotting
-number of waiting riders
-number of riding riders

-events on-route and at transportation hubs

-who you are riding with?

-where are your friends?
-current locations of hubs if floating

-anticipated change in routes if flexible and

on-demand, on-demand trends

-emotional state of the riders

-best plan trip both in terms of modality

and route
-problem areas within the public transport
network
-rider’s feedback
-information regarding ride sharing and
Session 02 - Initial Thoughts on Creating a Design Brief for Urban Informatics Projects circulation oriented transport sharing
4. Identifying the process of collecting data
-Problem :Single-driver, private, vehicle mobility choice vs. public transport
-Solution :A ubiquitous, multi-modal public transport, offering a quality rider’s experience

-Social networking platforms

-On-line platforms for
-Voluntary contributions by the participatory user
public through mobile devices generated information

process of collecting data, platform for

Do you need public participation for collecting
information? How intensive is the burden of
participants? How can the public be incentivize
to participate in sharing their information
and/or acting as human sensors?
collecting data, or getting access to already
collected datasets. Identifying what are the -Service providers’
datasets
other sources of data that can be cross-
referenced for enriching the information at
hand?

-Sensor networks
• -Infrastructural sensor networks
-Semantic web •• -Wireless
-Wireless sensor
sensor networks
networks
information searching • -centralized
-centralized vs.
vs. peer-to-peer
peer-to-peer sensor
sensor networks
networks
virtual bots •• -self-reporting
-self-reporting vs. request-based sensor
vs. request-based sensor
networks
networks
•• -power
-power considerations
considerations
•• -information transmission bandwidth and
-Surveillance network coverage
coverage considerations
considerations

Session 02 - Initial Thoughts on Creating a Design Brief for Urban Informatics Projects
5. Characteristics of the Dataset
-Problem :Single-driver, private, vehicle mobility choice vs. public transport
-Solution :A ubiquitous, multi-modal public transport, offering a quality rider’s experience

What is the structure a sample data record

Who owns the data? What are the
in the datasets: what, where, when,
incentives that you can provide for the
duration, relational connection, how
owner of data to share it?
many/how much, …

Session 02 - Initial Thoughts on Creating a Design Brief for Urban Informatics Projects
6. Risks of Sharing Data
-Problem :Single-driver, private, vehicle mobility choice vs. public transport
-Solution :A ubiquitous, multi-modal public transport, offering a quality rider’s experience

• -filtering data
• - anonymizing data
• -aggregation data

How can the risk

be addressed?

What are the risks of sharing

this data in terms of:

• - privacy issues
• -safety and security issues
• - improper use
• -crowd-mentality issues (what if everybody has access to the same
information? Would they act in a way that negates the initial purpose of
making the dynamics transparent?
• -big brother effect
• -information overload effect

Session 02 - Initial Thoughts on Creating a Design Brief for Urban Informatics Projects
7. Information flow and its architecture
-Problem :Single-driver, private, vehicle mobility choice vs. public transport
-Solution :A ubiquitous, multi-modal public transport, offering a quality rider’s experience

• -synchronous vs. asynchronous vs. • -All-in-one platform

semi-synchronous • -customizable
• -soft real-time vs. hard real-time information feed
• -frequency of update • -peer to peer vs.
• -cost/benefit analysis of frequency of centralized
update •-
One Big Brother vs. A T
housand Little Sisters
• -Open or password
How real-time
architecture
protected
should be the
flow
data?
Information-

information:
delivery of
Modes of
Platforms for
delivery of
Delivered?
information
should be
how the Data
Identifying • -public domain vs.
• -Public screens, embedded screens
passport protected
• -hand-held devices
• -access levels
• -free vs. paid-per-view
vs. subscription
• -contribution in return for
access – point systems
• -push vs. pull services

Session 02 - Initial Thoughts on Creating a Design Brief for Urban Informatics Projects
8. Technology and its shortcomings
-Problem :Single-driver, private, vehicle mobility choice vs. public transport
-Solution :A ubiquitous, multi-modal public transport, offering a quality rider’s experience
How to deal with technology short comings
Technology
• -always ofon-line
transmission-bridging
storage-bridging time distance
• -off-line
• -memory
-one to one services
ofvs.
pastone to many vs. many to many vs. many to one
• -combinatory
• -anticipation
-infrastructure approach
of future
• -low-rez
• -pattern
• -wired vs. high-rez solutions
recognition
• -hard
• •-always
-wireless real-time vs. soft memory,
storing in running real-time archiving,
solutions a combinatory approach
• - Information
• -selective storage, low-resolution storage, failures
-effective range bottle-necks and system limited storage, no-storage
• -server
-bandwidthfarms: the physical reality of the virtual dimension
• -coverage

Available technologies for sensing and actuatin, display and user participation

Session 02 - Initial Thoughts on Creating a Design Brief for Urban Informatics Projects
9. How to use the data
-Problem :Single-driver, private, vehicle mobility choice vs. public transport
-Solution :A ubiquitous, multi-modal public transport, offering a quality rider’s experience

The interfaces and the

representation/presentation
modes? Can you go beyond
vision as the faculty of
perception?
• -Visual considerations
• -User-interaction
considerations
• -Modality Considerations
• -Resolution considerations
• -How much information is
too much information?
Identifying how the data should
be used? What are the possible
What is the extreme
scenarios that can built on this scenario if the
data to positively alter lifestyle
How can the public proposed system is
of urbanites or enhance the deployed?
be incentivize to use
process of design and
the platform? • -immediate future
management of urban areas?
• -near future
What are the possible services
that can be built on this • -far future
information?

Session 02 - Initial Thoughts on Creating a Design Brief for Urban Informatics Projects
9. Implementation action plan
-Problem :Single-driver, private, vehicle mobility choice vs. public transport
-Solution :A ubiquitous, multi-modal public transport, offering a quality rider’s experience

• -Extreme Approach; starts from a highly specific scenario

• -Open Approach; conceptualizes the scenario as open to multiple interpretations
Implementation action plan and allowing different modes of usage

Prototypical implementation

• - scaling up the prototype

• -economy of scale
• -scalability
Question of scale • -adapting to new/emergent/unknown conditions
• -cross-platform compatibility
• -adaptation rate and critical mass
• -politics of resolution

Considerations of commercialization and technology

transfer

Post implementation user-study

Session 02 - Initial Thoughts on Creating a Design Brief for Urban Informatics Projects