Data

Turning Cities into Software

Many have called for "urban operating systems" to streamline how cities work, but few ideas have really taken hold. One small start-up, however, is making strides in developing that concept.

August 24, 2010 - Fast Company

Britain's WiFi Networks Mapped

Search giant Google has mapped the location of every WiFi network in Britain. Some say the collection of this information is a violation of privacy.

June 4, 2010 - Telegraph

The Data-Driven Key to Unlocking New York's Congestion

Wired profiles Charles Komanoff, who's hoping to use his immense spreadsheet of New York City traffic data to clear the city's congestion.

May 26, 2010 - Wired

Stats Systems to See Upgrade in Federal Budget

This post from The New Republic explains how the federal budget includes plans to upgrade some of the varied parts that track statistics in the country.

April 24, 2010 - The New Republic

What Can Taxi Data Tell Us About NYC Streets?

New York City has GPS data from tens of thousands of taxis and is beginning to mine that information to improve its streets. We talked to some transportation experts for their ideas on how to use it.

April 8, 2010 - Streetsblog

New Scorecard From NY DOT: Driving in Decline, Safety Improvements Work

New York City's second annual Sustainable Streets Index adds a wealth of data in support of green transportation and street safety.

March 26, 2010 - Streetsblog

CTA Opens Transit Data

The Chicago Transit Authority is opening up its transit arrival data to web developers, spurring what officials and riders hope will be the creation of new tools to make riding transit in the city easier.

December 16, 2009 - Chicago Tribune

Making Government Data Sexy

A flood of government data is going public, but on its own it is relatively boring and useless. A flood of new data visualization tools are hoping to change that.

November 21, 2009 - CNN

New York City's Data Collection Chopped in Half

New York City has for decades collected data about itself through more than 2,500 statistical indicators. But now, that number has been chopped down to about 1,200. Officials say it creates a streamlined look at the city, but others call it a loss.

September 11, 2009 - The New York Times

To Share or Not to Share? The Great Transit Data Debate

Some transit agencies keep it under wraps, while others share it widely. Three cities in the U.S. show how the availability of transit arrival data is a wild frontier.

August 27, 2009 - CNET

Monitoring Traffic Conditions With Lamppoles

Researchers in the U.K. are proposing a plan to utilize streetlamp infrastructure to install traffic monitoring devices in an effort to collect more information and aid transportation planners.

July 28, 2009 - EE Times

Google Takes Government Data Public

A new search tool from Google makes it easy to find public information, a move the company hopes will encourage governments to be more transparent with their data.

April 30, 2009 - The Washington Post

YouTube For Your Data: Many Eyes on Obama & McCain

Is it possible to condense two weeks of soaring rhetoric by politicians into a single graphic? Let's find out. In my last post I covered free online tools for creating information graphics.  Here is a look at another free online tool that can be used to easily create sophisticated visualizations and information graphics.

October 23, 2008 - Abhijeet Chavan

San Francisco Locked Out of Own Data By Disgruntled Employee

A systems admin in San Francisco apparently decided to bring San Francisco grinding to a halt, and refuses to divulge the passwords he set up across the city's entire network.

July 24, 2008 - The Christian Science Monitor

The Possibilities of 'Spime'

Noah Radford of Space Syntax gave an interesting presentation on the possible future of "spimes", objects like bricks that are given self-awareness in space and time (hence, spime) and what such objects might mean for future planning and design.

June 2, 2008 - Resources for Urban Design Information

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Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools

This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.

Planning for Universal Design

Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.