All posts by RSkelton

Street View Cars Measuring Air Quality

August 25, 2015Cities, Internet of ThingsRSkelton

I think this is a great indicator of where we are heading with the Internet of Things. Cars are carrying technology that will eventually have static locations in great numbers. Veniam have created a mesh network for providing WiFi to cities, and is deployed to public transportation. Obviously hundreds more nodes that are fixed is a better solution, but it is more difficult to get going.

Likewise Aclima has teamed up with Google Street View vehicles to monitor the air quality of many locations:

In the first pilot, three Street View cars collected 150 million air quality data points over a month of driving around Denver, Colo. They measured for chemicals that are hazardous to breathe, like nitrogen dioxide, nitric oxide, ozone, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, methane, black carbon, particulate matter, and Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs).

Again, having these sensors in fixed locations would provide superior and constant data – it will just cost substantially more to deploy, and will require the co-operation of local governments.

If this entry-point for trialling Things becomes commonplace, it will need a name. As this is the first place online to mention these two companies in the same breath, I guess I should give it a go… It could be CarStrapping, SwarmTest or Mobeta.

Perhaps in a few years there will be a company that sends cars loaded with Thing sensors around cities to test them?

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Yet I maintain that the end goal will be static sensors. This means co-operation with local government, which suggests a big role for authorities in the future of mapping. I can imagine a Municipal Operating System that combines IoT Sensors, autonomous taxis, emergency services, and much more.

Amazon Proposes Drone Airspace

August 22, 2015DronesRSkelton

Reported at The Register

This plan to separate planes from drones is a no-brainer, and a 10-year-old could have designed it. To avoid buildings and the like, Amazon proposes:

Geospatial data of all hazards to navigation over 200 feet.

That shouldn’t be too difficult to provide and will work fine for drones travelling from warehouse to warehouse. However, below 200 ft there are many more obstacles, including non-stationary objects. And to confound matters, a lot of private property.

There is a huge leap from flying around in drone space, and actually landing on someone’s front lawn to make a delivery.

If they have thought things through, Amazon might realise the need for a 3D mapping system.

Time To Legislate Against Drones?

August 15, 2015DronesRSkelton

As reported in the Washington Post this week:

In recent days, drones have smuggled drugs into an Ohio prison, smashed against a Cincinnati skyscraper, impeded efforts to fight wildfires in California and nearly collided with three airliners over New York City.

Earlier this summer, a runaway two-pound drone struck a woman at a gay pride parade in Seattle, knocking her unconscious. In Albuquerque, a drone buzzed into a crowd at an outdoor festival, injuring a bystander. In Tampa, a drone reportedly stalked a woman outside a downtown bar before crashing into her car.

Because drones do not need to be registered, the potential for harm is always going to be there. For a few hundred dollars you can remotely operate a vehicle anonymously. I foresee a time when all drones need to be registered, just like cars.

Barcelona to get a City Operating System

August 5, 2015CitiesRSkelton

In this month’s Fortune magazine:

In 2012, Barcelona put out a tender for tech companies to create its OS. The bidding was fierce: 18 companies competed in a process that dragged on for months. In the end, Ferrer signed a contract in May with a consortium comprising Accenture, GDF Suez, and Cellnex to build the system, for the pittance of about $1.6 million. “It was nothing,” Ferrer says. “But for the companies, it was a chance for them to deploy solutions for a lot of cities in the world.”

The whole article is worth reading, an insight into Barcelona’s quest to be the world’s smartest city.

It is interesting that they are calling it a city operating system. One of my preferred brand names for Map Merge is VEaMOS, which is Virtual Experience and Municipal Operating System. Calling it an OS will certainly help convince cities that they need it.