Archinect - News

How the data collected by dockless bikes can be useful for cities (and hackers)

2018-10-05T14:37:00-04:00

In the 18 months or so since dockless bike-share arrived in the US, the service has spread to at least 88 American cities. (On the provider side, at least 10 companies have jumped into the business; Lime is one of the largest.) Some of those cities now have more than a year of data related to the programs, and they’ve started gleaning insights and catering to the increased number of cyclists on their streets.

Technology Review writer Elizabeth Woyke looks at ways how city planners in Seattle, WA and South Bend, IN use the immense stream of user-generated location data from dockless-bike-sharing programs to improve urban mobility — and how hackers could potentially access and abuse this (supposedly anonymous) information. "In theory, the fact that people can park dockless bikes outside their exact destinations could make it easier for someone who hacked into the data to decode the anonymous identities that companies assign their users," Woyke writes.

As augmented reality further permeates the urban environment, do architects play a role in planning virtual spaces?

2018-10-03T17:59:00-04:00

Over the past couple of decades, artists and designers have developed augmented realities that propose vastly different, and often more radical perspectives of what a digitally enhanced public realm could look like. [...] many actually existing AR projects instead ask critical questions about the implementation of this novel technology and its potential to shift both the everyday experiences and political economies of architecture and cities.

In his latest Failed Architecture piece, Joshua McWhirter offers an insightful history of noteworthy augmented reality-powered works of art, activism, game design, and simulation while also issuing a warning call about the impending privatization and commodification of the virtual public space without much input from architects. "And as this landscape increasingly constitutes a public realm in and of itself," McWhirter writes, "a collection of hybrid real-virtual public spaces, there are even glimmers of direct challenges to its creeping privatization."

These fascinating GPS doodles were 'drawn' by cycling the grid of the city

2016-02-09T15:11:00-05:00

Stephen Lund considers the Canadian city of Victoria his canvas and a bicycle his brush. And the paint? Strava, a GPS tracking system which marks his routes with crimson lines. So far, he has pedaled around in the shapes of critters such as an angler fish, giraffe, giant anteater, and nine-banded armadillo; mythical and interplanetary creatures such as the Siren of the Salish Sea, the Sea Serpent of Haro Strait, and the Dark Lord of the Sith.

Take a look at some of Lund's intricate "GPS Doodles," also known as "Strava art:"

Head over to Stephen Lund's blog gpsdoodles.com to find way more of this goodness and watch him explain his approach in the video from the recent TEDxVictoria below.

Is Waze to blame for heavy traffic on L.A. residential side streets?

2015-11-24T15:00:00-05:00

Waze sometimes sends drivers through little-used side streets such as Cody Road [in Sherman Oaks, Calif]...Some people try to beat Waze at its own game by sending misinformation about traffic jams and accidents so it will steer commuters elsewhere. Others log in and leave their devices in their cars, hoping Waze will interpret that as a traffic standstill and suggest alternate routes.

More about Waze on Archinect:

Throwback Throughway: when GPS fails, these gorgeous "mental maps" help you navigate

Waze takes on the ride-sharing market with new carpooling app

Arnold Schwarzenegger voices Waze app

Waze and its new uneasy bedfellows

Throwback Throughway: when GPS fails, these gorgeous "mental maps" help you navigate

2015-11-12T19:21:00-05:00

A set of maps from designer Archie Archambault might help us rebuild the mental maps of cities that we're starting to lose. Instead of a literal grid of streets, he maps out neighborhoods and the basic parts of a city the way someone who lives there might think of it, or at least the way they probably did before Google Maps existed.

How did people live—or at least find their way to all of the events, parties, and work-related meetings—before they had smartphones and GPS? You could ask a friend, just as Archie Archambault did when he first visited Portland and didn't know his way around. Since then, he has started drawing circular "mental maps" of cities, based on the recollections of each urbanity's denizens.

Similar to the simplified subway line maps that help commuters get from one transit stop to another by omitting unnecessary details, these mental maps render cities in terms of big-picture human landmarks. He's mapped cities from Amsterdam to Kyoto to Vancouver, B.C. (and, just in case you find yourself up there without a good WiFi connection, the Moon).

The new Monument Men: with 3D cameras and GPS data against cultural annihilation in Syria and beyond

2015-11-12T19:00:00-05:00

That’s why a team from the Institute for Digital Archaeology (IDA) is turning to the next best option—using technology to protect cultural heritage. Founded in 2012 by Roger Michel, IDA is a joint effort between Harvard University and Oxford University to create an open-source database of high-resolution images and three-dimensional graphics of things like paper and papyrus documents, epigraphs and small artifacts. Work on what IDA has named the Million Image Database began in early 2015.

The photo shows the Baal Shamin temple prior to its destruction. Volunteers of the Institute for Digital Archaeology were able to digitally archive the 2,000-year-old structure for the Million Image Database project just in time before ISIS fighters seized control of Palmyra's historic site.

Related on Archinect:

Arnold Schwarzenegger voices Waze app

2015-06-16T16:15:00-04:00

Starting Monday, drivers around the world could soon be directed by a familiar Austrian-accented voice telling them: "I'm a Terminator Cyberdyne Systems Model 101, and you're coming with me." It's Arnold Schwarzenegger, the actor and former California governor, who is lending his persona as the famed Terminator from the movie franchise to the community-based traffic and navigation app Waze.

“3D Soundscape” Can Guide Blind People Through Cities

2014-11-19T15:19:00-05:00

Enter Cities Unlocked, a project intended to help people with sight loss navigate cities. The brainchild of a blind Microsoft employee, it uses GPS, a 3D audio headset, and Bluetooth beacons, among other technologies. [...] “I’m a blind person, I need to keep my ears open,” she says. The headset uses bone-conducting technology, in which vibrations create a “3D soundscape” around the user.

New podcast, new banknotes, new neurons: Weekly News Round-Up for October 6, 2014

2014-10-13T20:27:00-04:00

Sunday, October 12:

A classic American look, feng shui notwithstanding: Investigating the impact of wealthy Chinese immigrants on suburban Seattle's real estate boom.

Saturday, October 11:

Indiana Ponders Abolishing Licensing for Architects: Part of a state-wide reconsideration of more than "200 types of professional licenses, permits and certifications", aimed at cutting regulatory costs.
Announcing "Archinect Sessions", our brand new podcast! Listen to Episode #1 now: We're launching a weekly podcast to discuss prominent news items, feat. members of the Archinect community and other special guests. Ep. #1: "Where are the women?"

Thursday, October 9:

Architects Create a 3-D Printed Column That Survives Earthquakes: Made of cement and based on ancient Incan techniques.
Renzo Piano admits he's "struggling to do something good" for the LA Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences project: A fable to remind us that architecture is never solely the product of architects.

Wednesday, October 8:...

Nobel Prize in Medicine Is Awarded to Three Who Discovered Brain’s ‘Inner GPS’

2014-10-07T13:15:00-04:00

The three scientists’ discoveries “have solved a problem that has occupied philosophers and scientists for centuries — how does the brain create a map of the space surrounding us and how can we navigate our way through a complex environment?” said the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, which chooses the laureates. The positioning system they discovered helps us know where we are, find our way from place to place and store the information for the next time

Back in 1971, John O'Keefe identified "place cells" in the brain – neurons that were selectively activated in relation to the subject's place in an environment. He concluded these nerves were composing a mental map of the space, and the collection of multiple place cells constituted a spatial memory of the environment.

Then in 2005, May-Britt Moser and Edvard I. Moser identified another group of nerve cells, the so-called "grid cells", that create a coordinate system in the brain. Together, place cells and grid cells create a precise understanding of space in the brain, allowing for navigation and spatial memory.

Google Maps enters the indoor GPS market

2012-11-13T12:18:00-05:00

On Black Friday and throughout this holiday season, simply zoom in to a participating store on Google Maps to devise your shopping game plan. An indoor floor plan with helpful labels will automatically appear, and the familiar “blue dot” icon will help you figure out the fastest way to the accessories department, the food court when you need to refuel, and the closest restroom or ATM when you need a break from your marathon shopping session.

Macy's introduces indoor GPS navigation

2012-11-08T11:28:00-05:00

Macy’s has added a new feature to its iPhone app that provides indoor turn-by-turn directions for its massive flagship location in New York City’s Herald Square, courtesy of Meridian, the software startup behind an indoor GPS platform.

Is indoor GPS navigation the new wayfinding?

Since launching last year, Meridian has worked with a handful of prominent institutions to build indoor mapping systems from the ground up, including the American Museum of Natural History in New York and the Venetian hotel and casino in Las Vegas. The service uses a unique combination of GPS and WiFi data to pinpoint the precise location of the smartphone user indoors. By opening up its SDK to developers, Meridian should see plenty more locations incorporate this technology.