Rolling the extra logged sensor data into the GPX export took more effort that it should have…but I uncovered and fixed a latent bug in the export feature, so that’s a win right? Regardless, it’s was nice to use the new issue tracker at bugs.robertcarlsen.net for real(z) for the first time. I’m looking to get several other features implemented before the next released update…planning on a few weeks. Otherwise, code is available, as always, on github.

GPX export seems to be working, and imports fine into Google Earth. This is just a basic implementation of the essentials for a route; I’d really like to include other recorded sensors somehow into the track – maybe it could be a layer in Google Earth?

Looking at the ride data here reveals just how bad raw GPS data can be between tall buildings in NYC. Several data points often share the same GPS location. It seems that moving quickly with a clear path to the sky gives the best performance.

The app also quit midway though the ride – I have to look into that.

GPX export is available in the github repository.

Basic GPX export has been added to the github repo. That is all.

http://github.com/rcarlsen/Mobile-Logger/commit/9e1dc73304de562c30e64fa9a9b61840e69963c3

Thanks to a (very flattering) mention of my thesis project on Gizmodo after the ITP Spring Show, the use of Mobile Logger has quadrupled in the past two days. I had been watching the number of unique users rise on the Dashboard page, currently near 800…but then wondered what that would look like animated over time.

Here’s the world map, showing events pop up chronologically. There was the initial spread on April 12th from the public release in the app store…but just wait..wait…wait…for  May 12th. Fun!

Thanks Gizmodo (and Matt)!

(Here is the documentation for my thesis project at NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program. PDF version here.)

Riding through Mountains of Data:
Visualizations of Cycling

Robert Carlsen
Interactive Telecommunications Program
Tisch School of the Arts
New York University

Abstract

This project attempts to describe the cycling experiences of several riders in New York City through a series of visualizations. Specifically, I am interested to discover if riders similar to myself share a common experience through which a sense of connection could be derived.

Cyclists were encouraged to record their travels using their personal mobile devices running Mobile Logger, a custom iPhone application.
Log data was uploaded by the application to an online database in near real-time during each ride. This data was analyzed and filtered to provide source material for the resulting visualizations and system “dashboard” at http://mobilelogger.robertcarlsen.net.

Keywords

Cycling, New York City, sensors, iPhone, visualization, mapping, tracking, logging, mobile, application, bicycle

(more…)

The Mobile Logger application has been public for a couple of weeks and has (surprisingly, to me) been used in every continent, save Antarctica. I first noticed several events in the database from Australia, then the UK. I was mostly catching these events by coincidence when I was looking over my own data and wondered just where (in the world) these other users were logging from.

For Earth Day, I generated a map of the global users of Mobile Logger and put it on the status page. While the historical data is really neat, and humbling to know that people all over have tried this app, the real-time data is captivating. I added the city of the most recent event and a pulsing marker to the map. Now, the location of the newest log is marked when the status page is updated. Next, I’d like to show it when several events have been logged at the same time.

That’s it for now…working on the next iteration of the visualizations. I’m thinking of some Feltron-inspired summary charts, then a more detailed array of specific data. Who knows?!

Thursday, April 22nd is Earth Day. The weather is looking to be sunny and 65 degrees in New York City. Sounds like a perfect day to ride your bike (or walk, run or whatever you like to do outside). Since you’re already going to be out there, why not log the trip, help me with my thesis, and have your data made into some visualizations I’m preparing for the project?

It’s pretty simple…download Mobile Logger from the App Store (iPhone 3G/3GS), open it, then tap Logging switch to begin. Put the phone in your pocket, bag, mounted to handlebars, or wherever is convenient and go. You can double-tap the screen to disable the display, but shouldn’t lock the phone.

When you’ve reached your destination, tap the logging switch again to stop and you’re done! The log data is automatically uploaded to the Mobile Logger server and will be included in my research (this uploading can be disabled if you’d like to use the app without contributing to the project, too).

What I’m really interested in exploring is a sense of connection between us by sharing our experiences. I ride a bike daily through NYC, and encounter many other cyclists, walkers and drivers. We pass each other in a moment, or perhaps share a lane for a bit and then continue on our separate ways. How does my 5 mile, 25 minute ride from Greenpoint to the East Village compare to someone riding from Queens? What does a ride around Prospect Park share with one in Central Park? What’s the loudest part of the city for a cyclist? Where are the most frequently ridden routes?

I’ll be working with the contributed data to create visualizations which attempt to answer these questions. The “dashboard” of the system will be present at mobilelogger.robertcarlsen.net. More info about the app is available on it’s documentation page.

Times UP! is also organizing a ride at 7pm from Union Square if you still need another excuse to get on a bike, skates or a board. It would be neat to see a bunch of riders converge on a location, then ride together in a group. I really want to see what that visualization would look like…

Thanks, and enjoy the ride!

After several rounds of rejection, Mobile Logger has been accepted and is available on the App Store! Feel free to try it out; hopefully some folks will find it useful. The source code for the application has been released under the GPL and is available on github.

I’m still actively recruiting participants for my ongoing thesis project, which involves visualizing cyclists in New York City. If you’d like your riding to become incorporated in some pretty pictures to be presented in May, then by all means start logging (and thank you in advance)!

Be warned, it’s a battery hog. Feel free to let me know if it gives you any trouble.

Just submitted MobileLogger to the AppStore. Hoping this goes smoothly given my tight schedule for thesis.

For reference, when there are multiple versions of Xcode / iPhone SDK, specifically a beta version alongside the release version, and using xcodebuild command…explicitly set the xcode path to the release version or the application may be built against the beta SDK and get rejected by Apple:

sudo /usr/bin/xcode-select -switch /Developer

Yeah, knowing that ahead of time would have saved hours.

I fractured my ankle in a hard snowboard crash a couple of weeks ago and of course I was data logging the accelerometer forces. I was using the iPhone app developed last fall for the seismi{c}ycling project; while riding the phone was in my jacket’s internal chest pocket.

A group from ITP was enjoying the bitter weather at Mount Snow, in West Dover, VT on our (now annual?) Snowbunnies trip. This crash was late in the day on a wide open trail. I accidentally disengaged my heelside edge for a moment, causing me to rotate slightly clockwise and slide laterally. Moments later, my heelside edge caught again, now on the downhill side, causing me to quickly flip backwards onto my head … thankfully I was wearing a helmet. After that I can’t recall what exactly happened, but I know that it involved a lot of tumbling which my right ankle just couldn’t weather. (more…)