Instrumenting the city: developing methods for observing and understanding the digital cityscape Ubicomp 2006 Eamonn O’Neill, Vassilis Kostakos, Tim Kindberg, Ava Fatah gen. Schiek, Alan Penn, Danaë Stanton Fraser and Tim Jones Presenter: Jen-hao

Introduction The technologies interweave with the built environment. We need to understand the city as a system, encompassing it’s physical and digital forms and their relationships with people’s behaviors.

Physical form v.s. Digital form Bluetooth WiFi 3G, GPRS -Physical-Digital

Space syntax Space syntax analyses cities as systems of space created by the physical artifacts. Urban design plays a critical role in the construction of society and social behaviors.

Space syntax Axial map of Tokyo, 70,000 lines, coloured by radius-n integration.

Gatecounts A gate is conceptual line across a street. The observer stands on the street and counts the number of people crossing that line.

Static snapshots Recording both stationary and moving activities in the space. Understanding how people appropriate a particular space, and how people use it to contact with each other.

Interaction space Interaction spaces that are created by artifacts or devices such as computer displays. Interaction spaces may also be wireless. –Fixed: 3G, Wifi, GPRS –Mobile: Bluetooth

Extending the gatecount method Bluetooth scanners are installed on the streets with low, medium and high pedestrians flows.

A Bluetooth gate

Extending static snapshots method Scanners are installed in a bar and in a café. Human observers recorded people’s positions, behaviors and movements through space, and the precise time of these activities.

Field trials

Bluetooth names Default names –“NOKIA 6680”, “TomTom GO 300” User-defined names: –“Pick me pick me”, “Send me porn”, “U Found me”… –“Nokia 6280 Wayne”, “Annie”, “John K. Taylor” 58% of discoverable devices had user-defined names The naming reflects the intentions of interactions with the others. The user defines the “feel” of the interaction space.

Conclusions and future work Providing a way to analyze and understand ubiquitous computing features as integral aspects of the urban environment. Continue to refine the scanning methods to raise the accuracy. Understanding the city as a system encompassing both the built environment and ubiquitous technologies.