(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

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Brainstorming some sensors and possible applications. Two quick examples. Wake-up Coffee and Deflation.

There are several habitual activities that I do upon waking up, regardless of what time that ends up being. One of them is to make some coffee. Many coffee makers have timer features, but my preferred device, a single-serving espresso maker does not. Even if it did, I don’t always get up at the same time every day, so I’d have to reset the timer each time. (more…)