Artifact Review

Devika Singh
Sep 5, 2018 · 8 min read

[A] Maps for city planning

1. Remix STREETS

Remix streets is a product to plan, design and envision new streets. It helps users analyze existing conditions, sketch new scenarios, and evaluate it all in one place.

Takeaway: This is one of the many examples to show how maps today are living maps with constantly updated data and that is being used to inform city planning decisions.I’m not certain of the application area but I think that this kind of a system maybe useful for me to explore models of how people explore behavior or patterns of use of a place.

2. Remix PLANNING

Remix Planning is a tool to design, evaluate, and refine your plans all in one place.

Takeaway: It’s interesting how space and maps can be thought of in terms of time. In the context of autonomous vehicles where you don’t need to think about the way can time be an appropriate method for understanding space?

3. Mapillary

3D reconstruction and semantic segmentation connect images and extract map data at scale for smart cities, geospatial services, and autonomous vehicles.

I find the idea of 3D reconstruction of a place interesting in the context of capturing personal memories. Is it possible to capture the essence or memory of a physical place through that?

[B] Commute maps

(refer to A.2 also)

1. Commute Time Map

Takeaway: Similar to A.1, this is another example of how people could form a mental model of places in their minds according to time.

[C] AR+Spatial Intelligence

1. Sturfee

Sturfee is a Street AR Cloud SDK for instant localization, geometry detection, persistent multiuser AR experiences over entire cities. It is also extensible (users able to build their own components to override default behaviors) and it works on cross platform devices.

Takeaway: If we start thinking about technology and platforms driving maps in the future, the camera sensor becomes an important tool for spatial intelligence. With advances in machine vision and sensor technology navigation and way-finding soon becomes enabled through an enabled through and augmented layer over the real world.

2. Google Maps AR: From Global Positioning System (GPS) to Visual Positioning system (VPS)

Earlier this year, Google maps introduced visual guidance and visual positioning system in Maps Navigation.

Takeaway: Real world AR has been explored in a number of applications however, there are few interesting things that have been explored here.
1. In the first image combination of map view and street view allows the user to orient their position in a larger spatial context and the street view navigation guides them with the direction instructions.
2. Opportunity for semantic information. With integration through APIs from other services, one can get more detailed information and more types of information on different features.
3. The concept of a virtual guide to help a person navigate and explore.

3. Pokemon GO

[D] Driving Apps

1. Waze

Waze is a community based GPS navigation app. The differentiating functionality of Waze from Google maps is the social feedback: users can alert others to accidents, alternative routes, road closures, police officer sightings, and other such impediments.

Analysis: In a recent talk, Di-Ann Eisner, the Director for Growth, made a very interesting point about how the map has evolved from showing problems to solving problems. In Waze they are like citizens as probes, an extension of crowdsourcing.

[E] Social

1. Woov

Woov is an app to spark up your night life! The platform allows you to find out about all the events in the city through a map based interface.

I find the product itself to be a little meh… but customization of the underlying map to themed maps is unique in this product. Such as this map of London. The picture it communicates of the city becomes completely different and customized to serve the underlying intent. Using mapping tools I think it might be interesting build different themed maps to see how people perception changes about the same place.

2. Life 360

Life 360 is a part location and part communication tool for family and close friends. The tool helps people in the group to look at current and previous locations of the other members of the group.

The app integrates the Google maps API as the base layer. I find the battery status of the users in the group as useful feature. There is a feed for the group members location history but I don’t think that that feature has a very clear use case.

[F] Discovery Tools

1. Terrapattern

Terrapattern is a visual search query tool for discovering similar geographical features captured through satellite imagery. The intended audience for this tool is journalists, citizen scientists and researchers. The goal of the project is to give the users the ability to find “soft-features” that may not be added on commercial maps. Through Terrapattern, the creators aim to give tools to common people to answer questions about the world that maybe difficult to find otherwise. For example, users can use Terrapattern to identify destroyed buildings in a conflict area.

Analysis: This project is interesting because it uses maps as a tool for research inquiry. I find that Terrapattern still feels raw like a concept and hasn’t been fully developed as a product. Its because it has identified a simple functionality of identifying similar physical features, however it doesn’t allow users to investigate beyond that. By adding a dimension of scale and cross-referencing with some other kind of data might allow users to make more meaning from the platform.

In addition to satellite imagery, it might be interesting if it worked with other kinds of images of the same place? For example Google maps has a repository images posted by users which could be easily integrated into this.

I am interested how images can be used as the basis for discovery and understanding physical features.

Terrapattern Interface

2. Datacatcher

The Datacatcher is an experimental device designed for the users to get multiple orientations of places in a city. Its primary use is to give a sense of the sociopolitical texture of the neighborhoods where it is being used by giving information about them. The messages are derived from public and private datasets, such as the census and credit agency data. It’s a handheld device with an LCD screen at the top and rotating knob for the participant to interact with the interface. The Datacatchers are aimed at making data more transparent and empowering.

The audience were intrigued by the data and also found the activity to be fun. But they had concerns about how they could make sense because it could be easily misinterpreted or politicized. I think that the audience would have been more engaged if the participants felt that they were contributing to the project or be able to add their feedback. Some of them found the data to boring and lacking depth and frequently the questions didn’t change. Also, a system like this could be novel for a first-time use but it can get boring and overwhelming if the information doesn’t change over a period of time. This project is interesting because it in a way captures some of the softer features and information of the neighborhoods but represents it in a completely different way than a map. The way that the audience engaged with the device and the questions they had about the information would be helpful in thinking about how a reflective quality could be designed into a map to help people understand places meaningfully.

[G] Cognitive maps

1. Visualizing mental maps of San Francisco

2. Diorama Maps by Soheini Nishino

Artist Soheini Nishino sets to recreate a number of major cities in the world using photographs that he has clicked of place across the city; the final output resulting into a kind of diorama map. He attempts to this in order to capture his personal experiences and memories of each place. He states that his intent is not to create a visualization consisting of symbolized information about the buildings but a reflection of the lived experience and vitality of the city. The use of photographs clicked by him to represent the map helps in recollection of those memories.

Though these tend to be more artistic in expression, they are another example of reflective maps using pictures depicting an individual’s mental model of the city.

An Atlas of Living Spaces

Graduate thesis research documentation

Devika Singh

Written by

Summer @Autodesk || Studies Design for Interactions at Carnegie Mellon University || Designs Products || Noodle lover || Cautious optimist || www.devikasingh.co

An Atlas of Living Spaces

Graduate thesis research documentation

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