Real-Time Maps May Create Better Cities, Interview of Carlo Ratti

MIT’s Carlo Ratti (from SENSEable City, they group behing Real-Time Awareness Maps of Cell Phone Usage gives an interview (Real-Time Maps May Create Better Cities) in Technology Review. He talks about the use of the real-time generated by the people’s use of radio-frequency beacons (GSM antennas, WiFi access points, …) to better understand the use of space. The rest of the interview is on privacy issues.

The answer to the question “How can people use real-time location data?” is a bit rough, and I surely would be interested to know more:

Carlo Ratti: This information becomes very interesting because it can create a feedback loop. When you give this information to the community, the community can change its behavior.

Relation to my thesis: I am interested in location awareness from the collection of sensed location to their collaborative use with an emphasis on supporting people in dealing with the “noise” blurring location data. The real-time feedback loop on spatial use mentioned by Carlo Ratti is truly new, and it is absolutely unclear on the how/what/when such information should be given to be useful (or at least armless). Nicolas’ work on CatchBob! surely cannot be generalized and scaled up, but it at least give hints on the complexity of location awareness mechanisms.