Awesome preview of COG #8 is up online with a solid set of photos from Raymond Jones. The set featuring shots from the filming of Empire and photos of Chris Thormann and Luke Stiles on location and editing. Check out Cog Mag, Empire and Raymond’s blog and portfolio site. Great stuff.
Luke Stiles in edit. Photo Credit: Raymond McCrea Jones
On a related note, from COG MAG, check out their Ten Nine Radio piece about 10-9 Bicycle Messenger Radio. I love the idea of urban cycling and bike (fixed or otherwise) specific mixed medium broadcasting. 10-9 Bicycle Messenger Radio is a niche outlet obviously but well produced covering music, news, stories and events. I could see this approach growing into something similar to what Leo Laporte did within the field of technology news and reporting over the last few years with twit.tv. NETCAST it!
I’m not surprised to see this one come out of San Francisco. I’m a huge fan of mobile crowd-sourcing applications like City Sourced. So when I first heard about CycleTracks Smartphone Application I was stoked. The free application uses iPhone and Android’s GPS support to track users’ bicycle trip routes and asks app. users to specify the purpose for each trip – morning and evening commute, shopping, or training and exercise, etc… I can’t imagine CycleTracks being used in any other scenario but I would definitely use it during my everyday commute.
The upside to using CycleTracks is the tie-in to the San Francisco County Transportation Authority which will collect a mountain of useful data through this project. It’s an interesting concept and solid method to augment existing data already compiled by the Transportation Authority with more relevant and real-time user data. Whenever I imagine the working parts of a truly progressive, bike-friendly city, data drives innovation.
CycleTracks also bridges the gap between raw data and the physical world. Crowd-sourcing applications use data to tell human stories. The possibilities are endless. Data about heavily traveled non-designated streets could be used during the planning phase of new bike paths. Or perhaps for the specific use in re-zoning temporary alternative bike routes during construction projects. All based on traffic patterns generated in real-time. That’s the kicker. The here and now type of data that drives smart urban grids and true innovation when it comes to short and long term city planning.
Thinking locally for a minute, if Bloomberg and the DOT used crowd-sourced data to base their decision on whether or not to remove the Bedford Avenue bike path the outcome may have been different. Okay that’s a stretch, Bloomberg is a politician after-all, but I do believe in open-data, and if the NYC cycling community had that data, and perhaps were more organized, the decision may not have been made in favor of residents of South Williamsburg. Which brings me to my final point. I’m all about open government and transparency. If the SFCTA truly wanted to make a story about Cycle Tracks they should open the data up to the public. If the app is free the data should be open. Otherwise, very cool app. I’d like to see more of them.
What About My Privacy? If you’re concerned about “Big Brother” users can cancel a trip at any time for any reason and no data will be sent unless explicitly directed by the user. There’s an extensive outline of your privacy rights on the SFCTA website and Cycle Tracks seems to take privacy issues seriously. Personally I could care a less about all that, if you have a GPS enabled phone chances are you’re being tracked implicitly or otherwise. And with a simple opt-out you don’t have to share every trip. For the greater good, so they say. Check it out.
View the SFCTA Press Release, November 12, 2009: San Francisco County Transportation Authority Releases iPhone Application for Local Cyclists (PDF)
Contents include: Riding Blind, Pulling Out the Stops, Unfamiliar Things, Two Bikes and a Funeral, Hardcourt Bike Polo Gets Organized, Gallery: Singapore Fixed, Bikes on Film: Police Beat, Splined Bottom Brackets, Winter Cycling Basics, The Internals of Internal Gears, I Love Riding in the City, Residue and No Exit: More Bicycle Games. Get it online or download the .PDF at Urban Velo.
Issue number 1 of Fast Pace. At your local bike shop soon or if you would like one mailed direct now check out Andy’s site.It’s good to support projects like these. Fast Pace is a DIY zine started by Andy Compton.
Urban Velo just released a sneak of issue number #17. The new issue will be available online before the ball drops in Times Square. Subscribe to the print edition and they’ll mail your copy as soon as they’re available. You can subscribe to the Podcast version and iTunes will download the new PDF automatically. Looks awesome!
