A Review of High and Very High Resolution Remote Sensing Approaches for Detecting and Mapping Slums

Regular readers of this site might of noticed that we have an interest in slums. In the past this has focused on modeling them from an agent-based perspective, comparing volunteered geographical information to more authoritative data on slums, to that …

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A Review of High and Very High Resolution Remote Sensing Approaches for Detecting and Mapping Slums

Regular readers of this site might of noticed that we have an interest in slums. In the past this has focused on modeling them from an agent-based perspective, comparing volunteered geographical information to more authoritative data on slums, to that …

Continue reading »

A Review of High and Very High Resolution Remote Sensing Approaches for Detecting and Mapping Slums

Regular readers of this site might of noticed that we have an interest in slums. In the past this has focused on modeling them from an agent-based perspective, comparing volunteered geographical information to more authoritative data on slums, to that …

Continue reading »

Smart Cities in IEEE Pervasive Computing

We are excited to announce that the special issue that we organized for IEEE Pervasive Computing is now out. In the special issue entitled “Smart Cities” and demonstrates the state of the art of pervasive computing technologies that collect, monitor, and analyze various aspects of urban life. The articles and departments in the special issue highlight the coming revolution in urban data via some of the different approaches researchers are taking to build tools and applications to better inform decision making (to reduce energy consumption or improve visitor flows, for example). Such research will be critical to setting goals for sustainable urban development within different global contexts. We need to better understand cities and their underlying systems if we want to improve the quality of urban life. To this end, in the special issue we have an introduction (editorial) followed by a number of articles, an interview and a research spotlight:
We hope you enjoy them. Thank you for the authors who submitted papers, the reviewers, Rob Kitchen for giving an interview and Barbara Lenz and Dirk Heinrichs for discussing their research. Lastly, we would also like to thank the IEEE Pervasive Computing team for ensuring that the special issue came to fruition.

Full Reference to the Introduction: 

Crooks, A.T., Schechtner, K., Day, A.K and Hudson-Smith, A (2017), Creating Smart Buildings and Cities, IEEE Pervasive Computing, 16 (2): 23-25. (pdf)

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Smart Cities in IEEE Pervasive Computing

We are excited to announce that the special issue that we organized for IEEE Pervasive Computing is now out. In the special issue entitled “Smart Cities” and demonstrates the state of the art of pervasive computing technologies that collect, monitor, and analyze various aspects of urban life. The articles and departments in the special issue highlight the coming revolution in urban data via some of the different approaches researchers are taking to build tools and applications to better inform decision making (to reduce energy consumption or improve visitor flows, for example). Such research will be critical to setting goals for sustainable urban development within different global contexts. We need to better understand cities and their underlying systems if we want to improve the quality of urban life. To this end, in the special issue we have an introduction (editorial) followed by a number of articles, an interview and a research spotlight:
We hope you enjoy them. Thank you for the authors who submitted papers, the reviewers, Rob Kitchen for giving an interview and Barbara Lenz and Dirk Heinrichs for discussing their research. Lastly, we would also like to thank the IEEE Pervasive Computing team for ensuring that the special issue came to fruition.

Full Reference to the Introduction: 

Crooks, A.T., Schechtner, K., Day, A.K and Hudson-Smith, A (2017), Creating Smart Buildings and Cities, IEEE Pervasive Computing, 16 (2): 23-25. (pdf)

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New Paper: User-Generated Big Data and Urban Morphology

Continuing our work with crowdsourcing and geosocial analysis we recently had a paper published in a special issue of the  Built Environment journal entitled “User-Generated Big Data and Urban Morphology.”
The theme of the special issue is: “Big Data and the City” which was guest edited by Mike Batty and includes 12 papers.  To quote from the website

“This cutting edge special issue responds to the latest digital revolution, setting out the state of the art of the new technologies around so-called Big Data, critically examining the hyperbole surrounding smartness and other claims, and relating it to age-old urban challenges. Big data is everywhere, largely generated by automated systems operating in real time that potentially tell us how cities are performing and changing. A product of the smart city, it is providing us with novel data sets that suggest ways in which we might plan better, and design more sustainable environments. The articles in this issue tell us how scientists and planners are using big data to better understand everything from new forms of mobility in transport systems to new uses of social media. Together, they reveal how visualization is fast becoming an integral part of developing a thorough understanding of our cities.”

Table of Contents

In our paper we discuss and show how crowdsourced data is leading to the emergence of alternate views of urban morphology that better capture the intricate nature of urban environments and their dynamics. Specifically how such data can provide us information pertaining to linked spaces and geosocial neighborhoods. We argue that a geosocial neighborhood is not defined by its administrative boundaries, planning zones, or physical barriers, but rather by its emergence as an organic self-organized social construct that is embedded in geographical spaces that are linked by human activity. Below is the abstract of the paper and some of the figures we have in it which showcase our work.

“Traditionally urban morphology has been the study of cities as human habitats through the analysis of their tangible, physical artefacts. Such artefacts are outcomes of complex social and economic forces, and their study is primarily driven by traditional modes of data collection (e.g. based on censuses, physical surveys, and mapping). The emergence of Web 2.0 and through its applications, platforms and mechanisms that foster user-generated contributions to be made, disseminated, and debated in cyberspace, is providing a new lens in the study of urban morphology. In this paper, we showcase ways in which user-generated ‘big data’ can be harvested and analyzed to generate snapshots and impressionistic views of the urban landscape in physical terms. We discuss and support through representative examples the potential of such analysis in revealing how urban spaces are perceived by the general public, establishing links between tangible artefacts and cyber-social elements. These links may be in the form of references to, observations about, or events that enrich and move beyond the traditional physical characteristics of various locations. This leads to the emergence of alternate views of urban morphology that better capture the intricate nature of urban environments and their dynamics.”

Keywords: Urban Morphology, Social Media, GeoSocial, Cities, Big Data.

City Infoscapes – Fusing Data from Physical (L1, L2), Social, Perceptual (L3) Spaces to Derive Place Abstractions (L4) for Different Locations (N1, N2).
Recreational Hotspots Composed of “Locals” and “Tourists” with Perceived Artifacts Indicating “Use” and “Need”. (A) High Line Park (B) Madison Square Garden.



Moving from Spatial Neighborhoods to Geosocial Neighborhoods via Links.

The Emergence of Geosocial Neighborhoods after the in the
Aftermath of the 2013 Boston Marathon Bombing

Full  Reference: 

Crooks, A.T., Croitoru, A., Jenkins, A., Mahabir, R., Agouris, P. and Stefanidis A. (2016). “User-Generated Big Data and Urban Morphology,”  Built Environment, 42 (3): 396-414. (pdf)

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