June 16, 2006
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Technology Review (05/10/06) Bourzac, Katherine
Researchers at MIT's SENSEable City Laboratory can track the movements of anyone using MIT's wireless network by simply monitoring the access points to which their devices are connected. The lab is led by Carlo Ratti, an Italian architect who in a recent interview discussed his research aimed at developing real-time maps from location data that provide insight into the movement of people and the flow of traffic through cities. As companies such as Microsoft and Google continue their push into real-time mapping and municipal Wi-Fi projects, however, Ratti is troubled by privacy concerns, and advocates a collaboration between city planners and technology and telecommunications companies to develop infrastructures that will safeguard individual privacy. Access to dynamic, real-time city maps could streamline transportation, as individuals could tailor their movements according to the overall traffic flow in the city. Ratti is developing a project called Rome in Real-Time for the Venice Biennale architecture exhibition that will overlay all the real-time information that his team can obtain on a city map, including cell phone data and bus and taxi positions. Architects and city planners can use the maps to make better use of space by designing areas in accordance with real movement patterns. Ratti says the Katrina relief debacle would have been avoided with a real-time positioning system that tracks cell phones, though he believes that the privacy implications are too grave to ignore. His basic solution is to give people the choice to not have their data monitored; at MIT, students and faculty will be able to decide on an individual basis who can monitor their location. Companies such as Google, which is donating Wi-Fi equipment to build a mesh network in San Francisco, are hoping eventually to cash in on the data they collect from municipal Wi-Fi projects. Gratti's lab is putting together a consortium to discuss the future of the city with planners, telecom companies, and hardware and city-infrastructure providers.
For the complete article, see http://www.technologyreview.com/read_article.aspx?id=16807&ch=infotech
Posted by rab5 at 09:14 PM
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