Space-time data science for a speedy world

Miller, H.J. (2015) “Space-time data science for a speedy world,I/S: A Journal of Law and Policy for the Information Society, 10, 705-720.

Abstract: Space-adjusting technologies such as transportation and information/communication technologies are accelerating our world in complex ways. A speedy world has benefits but also challenges attempts to make it more sustainable and resilient. Our capabilities for observing human dynamics have improved dramatically, but less well developed are capabilities for extracting relevant space-time knowledge and making decisions while that knowledge is still fresh. This paper reviews the challenges and issues involved in developing space-time data science to deliver actionable knowledge quickly in a speedy world.

Urban Big Data Centre – University of Glasgow

Next week I am traveling to the Urban Big Data Centre at the University of Glasgow to give a public lecture, teach a masterclass and visit with Prof. Vonu Thakuriah – perhaps the world’s leading expert on urban big data.

Registration is required.

If you happen to be in or near Glasgow, stop by and say aye, aye, hou’s aw wi ye?

Update – 25 June 2015: A link to a recording of my public lecture can be found here.  Enjoy!

 

Access without ownership: Mobility as a service

A transport engineer in Helsinki is pioneering the real-world implementation of on-demand mobility services.  [A 24-Year-Old Transport Engineer Is About To Free Her City From Car Ownership.]

Sonja Heikkilä wants to create a sustainable mobility service ecosystem where Helsinki citizens can configure mobility services from a wide range of providers – public, private and shared – via smartphone apps.  In the future, users may be able to purchase monthly mobility plans that are tailored to their activity patterns and needs,  much like current mobile phone voice + data plans.

Helsinki is demonstrating that you can have access without ownership.  The average automobile is stationary and parked for 95% of its existence – a tremendously inefficient use of a valuable mobility resource.  Ownership also leads to overuse and binge mobility.

Social media, location-based services (LBS) and smart cities can help facilitate transportation polycultures that are not only more efficient but more effective and sustainable.  We must use these technologies to cultivate mobility services and collaborative mobility rather than the fight the futile battle of easing congestion through expanding roads and highways.  It has never worked, and it never will.