In order for our City Traffic Planners to be able to plan out our roads, paths and cycleways, it helps if they know how people are actually using those roads, paths and cycleways. Gathering that information for cars and trucks on our roads is relatively simple, using overhead cameras and census studies for example. But for pedestrians and cyclists its not so easy (and it is important for road safety to try to keep pedestrians and cyclists away from cars and trucks).
In a novel use of GPS data provided by users that track their walks, runs and cycles through our cities, city planners can now visualise the flows of these more difficult to track groups at different times of day.
In addition, planners have been able to locate places to create cycle paths and pedestrian bridges and see how quickly they have been adopted into peoples routes, keeping people away from traffic and making our cities safer.
Its a great use of the data we naturally create and we can feel good about our exercise routines helping to shape our cities in such a way that it makes our runs, walks and cycles safer.
Click here to read more about the project.
And click here to see the amazing maps generated by our workouts.
Be warned, as the maps are interactive, they are addictive and you can spend hours looking at the runs and cycles people have done in your area and beyond. Don't say I didn't warn you!
Peter Stokes.
In a novel use of GPS data provided by users that track their walks, runs and cycles through our cities, city planners can now visualise the flows of these more difficult to track groups at different times of day.
In addition, planners have been able to locate places to create cycle paths and pedestrian bridges and see how quickly they have been adopted into peoples routes, keeping people away from traffic and making our cities safer.
Its a great use of the data we naturally create and we can feel good about our exercise routines helping to shape our cities in such a way that it makes our runs, walks and cycles safer.
Click here to read more about the project.
And click here to see the amazing maps generated by our workouts.
Be warned, as the maps are interactive, they are addictive and you can spend hours looking at the runs and cycles people have done in your area and beyond. Don't say I didn't warn you!
Peter Stokes.