People are becoming human sensor networks as mobile devices equipped with sensors passively collect location and environmental data during daily activities. This large network of "low-quality sensors" distributed across a wide area can provide useful real-time information with minimal infrastructure. Examples include bikes equipped to monitor pollution levels and traffic, wearable devices that track environmental conditions, and asthma inhalers that contribute to air quality mapping. The passive collection of this ambient data maximizes the potential of personal technologies while generating insights that can improve products, services, and communities.

1. PSFK presents
FUTURE OF REAL-TIME
PSFK Presents
FUTURE OF
UBIQUITOUS SENSORS TO MONITOR
MUNICIPAL STRUCTURES
HP Labs has announced a project they’ve dubbed the CeNSE HTTP://WWW.HPL.HP.COM/RESEARCH/INTELLIGENT_INFRASTRUCTURE/
(Central Nervous System for the Earth), an attempt to build a
REAL-TIME
planet-wide infrastructure built from billions of small, cheap,
and durable sensors. These sensors will be able to attach to
bridges and buildings to warn of structural strains or inclem-
ent weather conditions, and will be scattered along roadsides
to monitor traffic and road conditions.
A REPORT
CO N S U LTI N G
Prepared by
PSFK for
United Nations
WWW.PSFK.COM 1
Global Pulse

2. PSFK presents
FUTURE OF REAL-TIME prepared for
CO N S U LTI N G
CONTENTS
Prepared by
PSFK for INTRODUCTION 1
United Nations KEY IMPLICATIONS 4
Global Pulse
KEY TRENDS
1. HUMAN SENSOR NETWORKS 7
2. PERSONAL CENSUS 17
3. SOCIAL SENTIMENT 27
4. SEE SOMETHING, TEXT SOMETHING 37
5. MOBILE COMMUNITIES 47
6. INSTANT MAPPING 57
7. CONTEXT CARTOGRAPHY 67
8. TIMELINE NARRATIVES 77
9. INTELLIGENT INFRASTRUCTURE 87
10. NETWORKING NATURE 97
11. DATA DEMOCRACY 107
ABOUT 116

3. INTRODUCTION prepared for
CO N S U LTI N G
Evolving data-rich technologies are providing organizations, a large and small scale. While others are putting this technology
governments and businesses with a rapid way to monitor the to use to instantly map geography, layer in information from
well-being of communities and individuals without significant other data streams and create context and narrative where none
infrastructure or spend. For those organizations whose success previously existed.
is dependent on the ability to quickly recognize and react to The proliferation of low-cost sensors has created a network of
high-risk situations, the proliferation of rapid access to “good intelligent infrastructure that can allow for the monitoring of
enough” information is proving invaluable. changing conditions and statuses in both natural and urban
Often, services can leverage the existing infrastructure created environments.
around the internet to provide low cost access to information in
We hope that this document prepared for the UnitedNations
real-time. Through this data democracy, decisions can be made
Global Pulse Team provides insights into the opportunities
at unparalleled speed.
available through the increased volume of “good enough”
The change we are witnessing is being driven by the growing data and real-time analysis. But the report doesn’t end
volume of data produced each day by ordinary people. By here—please join the discussion and share your ideas online
releasing information about themselves and their environments using #FutureOfRealTime or one of the hashtags presented
that has been captured through mobile phones and other digital in each section of this report. Together, we can broaden our
platforms, people are acting as human sensor networks. These knowledge base, highlight change for good, and inspire people,
individual data points, when collectively placed in context, can organizations and governments to make things better.
provide insight into a variety of situations.
Social media is another tool that is being used to monitor the
well-being of communities. Online buzz around certain subjects
can serve as an indicator of group sentiment, providing insights Piers Fawkes
that are relevant offline and pointing to actions that can be taken Founder & President
to remedy problems as they arise. PSFK
Simple solutions are developing that allow people to connect
rapidly across mobile networks. Government and aid-
organizations are putting this newfound ability to use by creating
temporary networked communities to handle situations on both
1

4. INTRODUCTION prepared for
CO N S U LTI N G
This report has been developed for PSFK PROCESS ABOUT PSFK
the United Nations Global Pulse team, At the core of PSFK’s trends research PSFK is the go-to source for new ideas and
a project whose goal is to support methodology is a robust qualitative inspiration for readers around the world.
governments in understanding what process called Grounded Theory
is happening to their most vulnerable Analysis, in which trends are identified by The New York City based trends and
populations in real-time. uncovering patterns within a large data innovation company publishes a daily
set. Over the course of several weeks in news site, provides research and business
We intend for it to be openly shared late 2010 and early 2011, a global team consultancy, manages a network of
around the globe between communities, of PSFK researchers in places ranging experts, and hosts idea-generating
development agencies, academia from New York to Nigeria, gathered events. PSFK aims to inspire readers,
and other organizations. Its aim is to hundreds of examples of innovation that clients and guests to make things better—
highlight the opportunities that exist for matched our brief. In an effort to refine whether that’s better products, better
organizations, large or small. In particular, the trends identified and gain deeper services, better lives or a better world.
the “left field” examples of data capture insight into the forces driving them, PSFK www.psfk.com
and use are published in hope of interviewed dozens of experts coming
showcasing how organizations can leap- ABOUT GLOBAL PULSE
from fields of aid, business, governmental
frog IT investment and still significantly The Global Pulse initiative works
policy and technology.
improve the monitoring capabilities. closely with UN Member States and
To develop PSFK’s Future of Real-Time other development partners to improve
BRIEF report, we responded to a brief set by evidence-based decision making and
PSFK’s key objective was to identify trends the Global Pulse team aimed at exploring close the information gap between the
in information monitoring allowing for emerging ideas around the world. onset of a global crisis and the availability
quicker reaction. Key areas of investigation of actionable information to protect
included developments in data (e.g. Each section in this document is a the vulnerable.
new types of data, emerging sources); separate trend identified through PSFK’s www.unglobalpulse.org
communication (e.g. feedback loops, pattern recognition process, which
community-to-community); tools; and includes supporting insights from experts
institutional use of real-time technologies. and a broad range of implications for
every type of reader.
2

5. FOREWORD prepared for
CO N S U LTI N G
THE IMPORTANCE OF REAL-TIME
ACCORDING TO THE UNITED NATIONS GLOBAL PULSE TEAM
Closing the information gap for decision We are in the midst of a technological In the past decade, we have witnessed
makers is an ambitious goal that will revolution. Every day we learn of exciting the rise of the open source software
require the UN’s collective expertise, new tools for collecting, analyzing, map- movement. Technology experts around
both that of Member States and that ping, and visualizing information. Accord- the world are volunteering their time,
of UN agencies. The Global Pulse is an ing to a recent report by the International expertise, and innovative ideas to create
initiative to support governments in Telecommunications Union, a mobile technology tools that are free for anyone
understanding what is happening to their phone signal now covers nearly 90% of to use. We believe we have an opportu-
most vulnerable populations in real-time. the world’s population. nity to harness this collective force for
To make this possible, governments need innovation by providing this community
access to real-time information on the Technology innovation is transforming our with an exciting role in helping us build
welfare of their populations. They need lives—and accelerating global development. the technology toolkit that will power
new technologies to collect, filter, and Some of the most dramatic innovations Global Pulse.
analyze this information in order to know concerning the use of technology are tak-
when populations may be feeling the ing place in the Global South.
early impacts of external shocks. And
they need to develop the capacity to In order to assemble these tools into a
use real-time information to make policy powerful analytical toolkit for govern-
decisions. ments, we believe that it would be most
cost-effective to take a non-traditional
approach to leverage the reach and
convening power of the UN in a new way.
Outsourcing the development of the sys-
tem to external consultants, the current
proscribed method for dealing with this
type of issue, would not achieve the level
of innovation required for success. We
believe in a more direct approach. 3

6. KEY IMPLICATIONS prepared for
CO N S U LTI N G
KEY IMPLICATIONS FORM THE TEAM AT GLOBAL PULSE
FUTURE OF MOBILE DATA-DRIVEN DATA EXHAUST TO
TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT DETECT EARLY SIGNALS
Mobile phones are now being used to We live in a new information age, As communities in the developing
send remittances, redeem food vouchers, where innovation is accelerating at a world increasingly adopt and use these
provide guidance to new mothers, share breathtaking pace. Today, there are technologies, they are beginning to
agricultural price information between new tools to capture and use data generate ambient data as by-products of
farmers and offer educational assistance that have never before been applied their everyday activities. This “information
to children. To monitor and evaluate to development. Mobile phones, for exhaust” may hold the key to detecting
the performance of these services, example, are increasingly playing a early signals of emerging vulnerabilities
government ministries and UN agencies critical role in global development and or incipient harm. The explosion in the
often collect statistical information about humanitarian crisis response. Mobile volume and diversity of data has been
how these services are used. We believe phones in the developing world are not met by advances in methodologies to help
that through deeper analysis of this data, only being used to speed up collection of make sense of it all. New tools exist to
governments will be able to detect the household surveys and census data, but collect, filter, integrate, fuse, analyze, map
early signals that vulnerable populations also by farmers to share price information and visualize information.
may be in trouble. Once a pattern of with potential buyers, by community
concern has emerged, governments will health workers to request lab diagnostics
be able to rapidly send teams to those for patients, and by ordinary citizens to
communities to conduct household report on problems in their communities.
surveys, and collect the statistical
evidence needed for policy responses. We
also see enormous progress with the use
of mobile phones and other technologies
to accelerate the collection of data that
was previously collected and documented
in print.
4

7. KEY IMPLICATIONS prepared for
CO N S U LTI N G
KEY IMPLICATIONS FROM THE TEAM AT GLOBAL PULSE
TARGETING DEVELOPMENT TECHNOLOGY TO CLOSE PROTECTING COUNTRIES
RESOURCES MORE EFFECTIVELY THE INFORMATION GAP AGAINST DEVELOPMENT REVERSALS
The current climate of increasing fiscal While many of the most vulnerable In an age of increasing global volatility,
austerity and limited resources is being felt communities in developing countries are hard-won development gains are in
by decision makers at every level. Real- still outside mobile phone coverage, there danger of being eroded much faster
time information, drawn from a variety of is little doubt that Southern innovation than in the past. Real-time actionable
sources, can allow leaders to better plan in the use of mobile technologies is information can help the international
and target interventions in times of crisis booming. Many private sector actors community to detect the impact of a
to ensure that populations most at risk are are driving this Southern information crisis early on when there is still time to
the first to receive support. revolution. The enormous opportunity prevent irreversible harm.
presented by these emerging markets
will inevitably lead to lower costs and
greater accessibility to technologies and
information services, even in communities
where today it seems unimaginable.
These emerging technologies represent
an extraordinary opportunity to close
the information gap and provide the
data needed to protect the world’s most
vulnerable populations.
5

8. HUMAN
SENSOR
“By having many low-quality sensors dispersed over a large area, perhaps in
people’s mobile phones, we can create a distributed network of sensors. I think
it’s important to avoid the debate over whether that’s good data or not, and look
at it more in terms of the capacity for the participants to start to make sense of
the data they’ve created in their local environment.”
NETWORKS
—Usman Haque, Founder and CEO, Pachube / Connected Environments
“By having many low-quality sensors dispersed over a large area, perhaps in
people’s mobile phones, we can create a distributed network of sensors. I think
it’s important to avoid the debate over whether that’s good data or not, and look
Mobile populations passively sharing location-related data
at it more in terms of the capacity for the participants to start to make sense of
the data they’ve created in their local environment.”
—Usman Haque, Founder and CEO, Pachube / Connected Environments
“By having many low-quality sensors dispersed over a large area, perhaps in
people’s mobile phones, we can create a distributed network of sensors. I think
it’s important to avoid the debate over whether that’s good data or not, and look
at it more in terms of the capacity for the participants to start to make sense of
the data they’ve created in their local environment.”
—Usman Haque, Founder and CEO, Pachube / Connected Environments

9. PSFK presents
FUTURE OF REAL-TIME
HUMAN SENSOR NETWORKS IMPLICATIONS
An increasing number of personal technologies are equipped • Citizens become participants in data collection without
with sensors that have the capacity to collect geographically- having to alter normal routines.
tagged data while people simply go about their daily rou-
tines. Phones, laptops and cars equipped with sensors such • Passive research seamlessly integrates into daily life;
as GPS receivers and accelerometers can collect, share and reflects the actual needs and behaviors of communities.
analyze this data in real-time. This passive feedback system
• Increased volume, frequency and type of data enables
requires minimal infrastructure and transforms people into
greater efficiency; ability to tailor products and services.
sensory nodes with little effort on their part.
• The efficiency of existing personal technology is
maximized leading to a reduced need to build costly
technological infrastructure.
• Value can be derived from nearly any action or activity.
A walk down a street can generate meaningful data for
an organization.
WWW.PSFK.COM 7

10. HUMAN SENSOR NETWORKS prepared for
CO N S U LTI N G
CONVERTING BIKES INTO MOBILE WEARABLE DEVICE MONITORS ENVIRONMENTAL ASTHMA INHALER MONITORS AIR QUALITY
SENSING UNITS CONDITIONS
8
NETWORKED PERSONAL LAPTOPS PROVIDES CROWD SOURCED TURN-BY-TURN NAVIGATION TAXI DRIVERS USED TO FIND FASTEST DRIVING ROUTE
EARTHQUAKE ALERTS
Mobile populations passively sharing location-related data

11. PSFK presents
FUTURE OF REAL-TIME
CONVERTING BIKES INTO MOBILE SENSING UNITS
The Copenhagen Wheel concept transforms ordinary bicycles Riders can access this data through their phone and even
into mobile sensing units that can map pollution levels, traf- share the information with their community, contributing to
fic congestion, and road conditions in real-time. As a person a dynamic database of real-time environmental conditions.
cycles, the wheel’s sensing unit captures their effort level and WWW.SENSEABLE.MIT.EDU/COPENHAGENWHEEL
information about immediate surroundings, including: road
conditions, carbon monoxide, NOx, noise, ambient temperature
and relative humidity.
WWW.PSFK.COM 9

12. HUMAN SENSOR NETWORKS prepared for
CO N S U LTI N G
WEARABLE DEVICE MONITORS ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS
French technology company, Sensaris, has developed a These devices are intended for use by groups of
wearable device that monitors environmental conditions individuals looking to contribute to larger community-
for its user. Sensors detect levels of air quality, noise, and oriented applications, including city noise mapping
humidity, mapping these alongside accelerometer and and urban planning initiatives.
GPS data. WWW.SENSARIS.COM
10

13. PSFK presents
FUTURE OF REAL-TIME
ASTHMA INHALER MONITORS AIR QUALITY
The Spiroscout is a small GPS-enabled device designed by By aggregating this anonymous, voluntarily-shared data about
Asthmapolis that attaches to the end of people’s inhalers, asthma, Asthmapolis provides people with the latest information
automatically capturing time and location of symptoms each about asthma in their communities, and helps scientists and
time an inhaler is used. The Spiroscout connects to a user’s public health agencies to target interventions designed to
PC through a USB, transferring information directly to the reduce the burden of asthma sufferers.
organization’s website. WWW.ASTHMAPOLIS.COM
WWW.PSFK.COM 11

14. HUMAN SENSOR NETWORKS prepared for
CO N S U LTI N G
NETWORKED PERSONAL LAPTOPS
PROVIDE EARTHQUAKE ALERTS
Participants simply download free software that runs in The goal is to provide a better understanding of earthquakes,
the background, notifying a central server when they record while giving early warning to schools, emergency response
tremors above a 4.0 magnitude. systems, and others.
QCN.STANFORD.EDU
12

15. PSFK presents
FUTURE OF REAL-TIME
CROWD SOURCED TURN-BY-TURN NAVIGATION
Waze is a mobile application that uses data from drivers’ mobile The system suggests daily routes based on driving patterns
phones to create crowd sourced maps and give turn-by-turn and social input to provide a real-time view of traffic conditions
driving directions. such as road accidents, traffic jams, weather hazards and even
speed trap locations.
WWW.WAZE.COM
WWW.PSFK.COM 13

16. HUMAN SENSOR NETWORKS prepared for
CO N S U LTI N G
TAXI DRIVERS USED TO FIND FASTEST DRIVING ROUTE
Researchers from Microsoft have been testing a new method look longer because it takes unexpected side streets. By ana-
for generating faster driving path suggestions by tapping into lyzing GPS data from 33,000 Beijing taxis over the course of
the expertise of local cab drivers and monitoring their GPS 3 months, researchers were able to determine optimal routes,
trajectories. While current drive-time predictions rely on the ultimately reducing drive times by 16%.
length of road and the posted speed limit, cabbies reliably WWW.RESEARCH.MICROSOFT.COM/EN-US/PROJECTS/TDRIVE
select the fastest path to a destination, even if the route might
14

17. JOIN THE DISCUSSION ON
HUMAN SENSOR NETWORKS
prepared for
CO N S U LTI N G
“With participatory sensing, individuals and community members act as data
collectors and as data users. This data helps groups understand what’s going
on in their specific context, create evidence for change, or tell a story.”
Deborah Estrin
Director of Center for Embedded Networked Sensing (CENS)
Professor of Computer Science, UCLA
“Metcalfe’s law says the value of a network is proportional to the square of the
number of connected nodes. As new nodes are added to our networks, both
mechanical (sensors) and human observers (like Project Noah members), we
slowly build a data network that has the capability to reflect the ever changing
tides of life on earth. In one sense it becomes a 911 service for the planet, in that
cries for help that previously went unnoticed, can now be heard.”
Martin Ceperley
Chief Technology Officer, Networked Organisms
JOIN THE DISCUSSION ON HUMAN SENSOR NETWORKS
Add your thoughts and ideas on Twitter and other
social media networks using #HumanSensorNetworks
15

18. PERSONAL
CENSUS
“By having many low-quality sensors dispersed over a large area, perhaps in
people’s mobile phones, we can create a distributed network of sensors. I think
it’s important to avoid the debate over whether that’s good data or not, and look
at it more in terms of the capacity for the participants to start to make sense of
the data they’ve created in their local environment.”
—Usman Haque, Founder and CEO, Pachube / Connected Environments
Individual insights facilitate collective knowledge
“By having many low-quality sensors dispersed over a large area, perhaps in
people’s mobile phones, we can create a distributed network of sensors. I think
it’s important to avoid the debate over whether that’s good data or not, and look
at it more in terms of the capacity for the participants to start to make sense of
the data they’ve created in their local environment.”
—Usman Haque, Founder and CEO, Pachube / Connected Environments
“By having many low-quality sensors dispersed over a large area, perhaps in
people’s mobile phones, we can create a distributed network of sensors. I think
it’s important to avoid the debate over whether that’s good data or not, and look
at it more in terms of the capacity for the participants to start to make sense of
the data they’ve created in their local environment.”
—Usman Haque, Founder and CEO, Pachube / Connected Environments

19. PSFK presents
FUTURE OF REAL-TIME
PERSONAL CENSUS IMPLICATIONS
Growing access to mobile technology around the world now • Citizens can understand their well-being through
enables an unprecedented monitoring of an individual’s cur- the collection and interpretation of personal data.
rent state of being. Mobile phones and tablet PCs can be
directed to collect personal data, giving individuals deeper • Communities can leverage data and analysis to
levels of insight into their habits and behaviors. Through a receive deep levels of insight about the collective
variety of platforms, people can actively collect and measure habits and behaviors of peers.
information about what they’re doing, their health, and even
• People can be incentivized to self-monitor through
their mood. They can also share this information anonymously
comparison, or benchmarking.
with a larger network so that it can be analyzed at a local or
even national level—allowing organizations to monitor relative • Validated personal experience through exploration
health of communities and respond to their changing needs. of shared community data.
• A deeper and more holistic understanding
of communities enables a more fair allocation of
resources and faster response times.
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20. PERSONAL CENSUS prepared for
INTIMATE DETAILS PROVIDE POPULATION STATISTICS PERSONAL FINANCE SITE SHOWS UNDERSTANDING HAPPINESS ACROSS THE UK
COMMUNITY SPENDING HABITS
APP AGGREGATES WEB BEHAVIOR CHEAP AND DISCRETE MOBILE STD TESTS ONLINE TOOL INSTANTLY VISUALIZES
PERSONAL CONNECCTIONS
Individual insights facilitate collective knowledge
18

21. PSFK presents
FUTURE OF REAL-TIME
INTIMATE DETAILS PROVIDE POPULATION STATISTICS
The online dating site OKCupid is no longer simply in the about interpersonal relationships spanning race, gender,
business of matching like-minded individuals. Based on and sexuality—uncovering social dynamics previously left
hundreds of millions of user interactions, intimate details only to speculation.
from over 3.5 million anonymous users are being converted BLOG.OKCUPID.COM
into data to generate incredibly insightful statistics
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22. PERSONAL CENSUS prepared for
CO N S U LTI N G
PERSONAL FINANCE SITE SHOWS COMMUNITY
SPENDING HABITS
Personal finance site Bundle.com aggregates financial This information is also mined in order to recommend
data from the US Government, Citi Bank and other third party restaurants based on the purchases of similar spenders
providers to give users access to accurate, real-time spending and to estimate change in expense if moving to other cities.
comparisons. With this data, users can explore average trans- WWW.BUNDLE.COM
action amounts and locations in categories such as shopping,
food and drink, and transportation.
20

23. PSFK presents
FUTURE OF REAL-TIME
UNDERSTANDING HAPPINESS ACROSS THE UK
Mappiness is a research project and mobile application how they’re feeling, who they’re with, what they’re doing and
developed by the London School of Economics with the goal where they are (users can even submit photos). This data is sent
of understanding how people’s happiness is affected by their anonymously and securely to the group’s database, along with
local environment—air pollution, noise, green spaces, and so on. an approximate location from the phone’s GPS and a noise-level
Participants are prompted one or more times a day to answer measure, where it can be aggregated and analyzed.
questions related to their emotional state, WWW.MAPPINESS.ORG.UK
WWW.PSFK.COM 21

24. PERSONAL CENSUS prepared for
CO N S U LTI N G
APP AGGREGATES WEB BEHAVIOR
Voyurl is a browser-based platform currently under development By aggregating data, this tool has the potential to provide
that will allow users to passively share their web surfing behaviors insight about what online content is being used, as well as
and view the browsing behaviors of others—in real-time. The which topics are trending and where.
idea of the service is to enable users to actually see the data WWW.VOYURL.COM
they create online and help find ways to derive value from it.
22

25. PSFK presents
FUTURE OF REAL-TIME
CHEAP AND DISCRETE MOBILE STD TESTS
Similar to pregnancy testing kits, new devices are in development By aggregating this personal data anonymously, health organiza-
that can diagnose if someone has an STD. Those who suspect that tions will be better equipped to understand the sexual health and
they have been infected will be able to place urine or saliva onto well-being of populations in a particular area. The developers of
a computer chip and plug it into their smartphone to receive a the chip plan on distributing the input devices through vending
diagnosis within minutes. machines for as little as $1.
WWW.UKCRC.ORG
WWW.PSFK.COM 23

26. PERSONAL CENSUS prepared for
CO N S U LTI N G
ONLINE TOOL INSTANTLY VISUALIZES PERSONAL CONNECTIONS
Business and career networking platform LinkedIn has developed people who have more connections (and typically more sway)
an experimental tool called InMaps that sifts through all of an in specific clusters with larger fonts. By aggregating and explor-
individual’s connections, detects the relationships between ing similar connections across other existing networks such as
them, and groups them into different network clusters so that families and friends, there is the potential to use this technology
anyone can see the depth of their connections in one interface. for understanding group health or quickly connecting people
InMaps provides insight into who the major connections, during a crisis.
bridges and influencers are in any network, by differentiating INMAPS.LINKEDINLABS.COM
24

27. JOIN THE DISCUSSION ON
PERSONAL CENSUS
prepared for
CO N S U LTI N G
“Making data public is less interesting to me than the capacity of the public
to make data. I think that when one goes through the process of trying to
measure something, one actually begins to understand how one directly
affects that process, or what potential one has to facilitate change.”
Usman Haque
Founder and CEO, Pachube / Connected Environments
“Data gathered from typically offline devices, such as the Withings Scale, is
great because it doesn’t involve a change in behavior, but simply a new sensor.”
Andrew Kortina
Co-Founder, Venmo
“Information coming from the ground and from the crowd has a great deal
of relevance. Traditionally, we look at information as something that comes
from a top-down perspective; from a media organization, a corporation or
a government. Nowadays, it’s information that flows from the bottom-up
that’s changing the world.”
Erik Hersman
Co-Founder, Ushahidi
JOIN THE DISCUSSION ON PERSONAL CENSUS
Add your thoughts and ideas on Twitter and other
social media networks using #PersonalCensus
25

28. SOCIAL
SENTIMENT
“By having many low-quality sensors dispersed over a large area, perhaps in
people’s mobile phones, we can create a distributed network of sensors. I think
it’s important to avoid the debate over whether that’s good data or not, and look
at it more in terms of the capacity for the participants to start to make sense of
the data they’ve created in their local environment.”
—Usman Haque, Founder and CEO, Pachube / Connected Environments
Online buzz as indicator of offline status
“By having many low-quality sensors dispersed over a large area, perhaps in
people’s mobile phones, we can create a distributed network of sensors. I think
it’s important to avoid the debate over whether that’s good data or not, and look
at it more in terms of the capacity for the participants to start to make sense of
the data they’ve created in their local environment.”
—Usman Haque, Founder and CEO, Pachube / Connected Environments
“By having many low-quality sensors dispersed over a large area, perhaps in
people’s mobile phones, we can create a distributed network of sensors. I think
it’s important to avoid the debate over whether that’s good data or not, and look
at it more in terms of the capacity for the participants to start to make sense of
the data they’ve created in their local environment.”
—Usman Haque, Founder and CEO, Pachube / Connected Environments

29. PSFK presents
FUTURE OF REAL-TIME
SOCIAL SENTIMENT IMPLICATIONS
The use of online social networks has spread around the world. • The ubiquity of social media platforms has led to a
People connect with one another through regular updates on democratization of the medium, enabling it to be used
computers and mobile devices. When analyzed in bulk, it is as a social barometer.
possible to calculate the current status of entire communities
and identify changes happening in real-time through web- • New types of data, such as photo-uploads, can be
based and social media search queries. This conversational tapped to add dimensionality.
data can also be used to predict what lies ahead.
• Adding the texture of information created from
every-day social interactions can provide new ways
to explore human needs and behaviors.
• Massive quantities of data can be held up against historic
models to allow policy makers and planners to prepare for
contingencies that might otherwise be invisible.
• Real-time information has allowed us to move beyond
correlation to prediction.
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30. SOCIAL SENTIMENT prepared for
ONLINE SEARCH QUERIES PREDICT SPREAD OF GLOBAL USING LAWS OF PHYSICS TO FORECAST SUCCESS OF SEARCH ENGINE IDENTIFIES PATTERNS TO PREDICT
FLU MARKETING CAMPAIGNS FUTURE EVENTS
ONLINE BUZZ ACCURATELY PREDICTS BOX OFFICE FACEBOOK AS PROXY FOR POLITICAL ELECTIONS STATUS UPDATES PREDICT ROMANTIC CHANGE
REVENUE
Online buzz as indicator of offline status
28

31. PSFK presents
FUTURE OF REAL-TIME
ONLINE SEARCH QUERIES PREDICT
SPREAD OF GLOBAL FLU
There is a close relationship between how many people search Google Flu Trends use these search queries to estimate
for flu-related topics and how many people actually have flu current flu activity around the world in near real-time.
symptoms. Before visiting a clinic, many flu sufferers visit web WWW.GOOGLE.ORG/FLUTRENDS
sites for information about symptoms and remedies.
WWW.PSFK.COM 29

32. SOCIAL SENTIMENT prepared for
CO N S U LTI N G
USING LAWS OF PHYSICS TO FORECAST SUCCESS
OF MARKETING CAMPAIGNS
Leveraging the concepts of velocity and acceleration from Facebook sign-ups, Harper claims to be able to calculate
the world of physics, Jason Harper of the digital ad agency whether a mass marketing campaign will reach its overall
Organic, is using social media analytics to predict the success goals within the first few days of its launch.
of marketing campaigns. Using calculus to compute the velocity, WWW.ORGANIC.COM
or rate of change, of tweets, blog mentions, and
30

33. PSFK presents
FUTURE OF REAL-TIME
SEARCH ENGINE IDENTIFIES PATTERNS TO
PREDICT FUTURE EVENTS
Recorded Future is a new search engine that utilizes real-time developments, and social functions, the system is able to
internet monitoring in order to predict the future. Using linguistic identify invisible patterns and connections between events
tools that identify events concerning national security, economic and people that shape the future.
WWW.RECORDEDFUTURE.COM
WWW.PSFK.COM 31

34. SOCIAL SENTIMENT prepared for
CO N S U LTI N G
ONLINE BUZZ ACCURATELY PREDICTS
BOX OFFICE REVENUE
A recent study by Sitaram Asur and Bernardo Huberman has By analyzing the rate at which movie-related tweets are gener-
shown that Twitter can be used to forecast box-office revenue ated, the researchers found they were able to predict box-office
for movies. revenue more accurately than traditional methods.
WWW.ARXIV.ORG/ABS/1003.5699
32

35. PSFK presents
FUTURE OF REAL-TIME
FACEBOOK AS PROXY FOR POLITICAL ELECTIONS
The ubiquity of Facebook has made it an accurate barometer In the Senate, their snapshot of 19 races proved that 81% of
for national sentiment—including election outcomes. During candidates with the most Facebook fans won their contests.
the recent US political elections, the Facebook political team’s WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/USPOLITICS
initial analysis of 98 House races showed that 74% of candidates
with the most Facebook fans won their contests.
WWW.PSFK.COM 33

36. SOCIAL SENTIMENT prepared for
CO N S U LTI N G
STATUS UPDATES PREDICT ROMANTIC CHANGE
By scraping Facebook status updates for the words “break in the weeks leading up to spring break, right before the start
up” or “broken up” over the course of a year, interaction of the summer holiday and a few of weeks before Christmas.
designers David McCandless and Lee Byron were able to WWW.INFORMATIONISBEAUTIFUL.NET
chart out the most likely times couples will break up. The WWW.LEEBYRON.COM
majority of break ups occur three times in the year:
34

37. JOIN THE DISCUSSION ON prepared for
SOCIAL SENTIMENT
CO N S U LTI N G
“When data is published with greater frequency, it makes sense that we’ll
be able to predict seasonal trends.”
Andrew Kortina
Co-Founder, Venmo
“Predictive systems could be used to anticipate demand for commodities, goods,
and services—helping businesses optimize what they’re producing and having
tighter feedback loops. Rather than trying to convince people they need some-
thing, producers could respond to what people are actually saying.”
Andrew Hoppin
Chief Information Officer, New York State Senate
“If you have information in multiple dimensions, you can begin to understand the
dynamics of complex socio-technical systems. Through better understanding we
can better predict future change.”
Deborah Estrin
Director of Center for Embedded Networked Sensing (CENS)
Professor of Computer Science, UCLA
JOIN THE DISCUSSION ON SOCIAL SENTIMENT
Add your thoughts and ideas on Twitter and other
social media networks using #SocialSentiment
35

38. SEE
SOMETHING,
“By having many low-quality sensors dispersed over a large area, perhaps in
people’s mobile phones, we can create a distributed network of sensors. I think
it’s important to avoid the debate over whether that’s good data or not, and look
at it more in terms of the capacity for the participants to start to make sense of
the data they’ve created in their local environment.”
TEXT
—Usman Haque, Founder and CEO, Pachube / Connected Environments
“By having many low-quality sensors dispersed over a large area, perhaps in
people’s mobile phones, we can create a distributed network of sensors. I think
SOMETHING
it’s important to avoid the debate over whether that’s good data or not, and look
at it more in terms of the capacity for the participants to start to make sense of
the data they’ve created in their local environment.”
—Usman Haque, Founder and CEO, Pachube / Connected Environments
Active reporting for collective well-being
“By having many low-quality sensors dispersed over a large area, perhaps in
people’s mobile phones, we can create a distributed network of sensors. I think
it’s important to avoid the debate over whether that’s good data or not, and look
at it more in terms of the capacity for the participants to start to make sense of
the data they’ve created in their local environment.”
—Usman Haque, Founder and CEO, Pachube / Connected Environments

39. PSFK presents
FUTURE OF REAL-TIME
SEE SOMETHING, TEXT SOMETHING IMPLICATIONS
Systems that track change can leverage power of people. • Promotes civic engagement by lowering barrier
Crowd-sourced services that allow people to report on the situ- of entry, allowing individual voices to be heard.
ation around them are ensuring communities’ collective well-
being by rapidly documenting potentially harmful incidents. • Mobile technology gives a voice to disenfranchised
or marginalized groups.
Often using mobile phone technology, these information
• Systems can be tailored to the needs of those
monitoring systems not only provide real-time, location specific
specifically affected by them.
data, but also boost civic engagement by establishing direct
channels of communication from the ground up. • Real-time systems provide the ability to actively
respond to and mitigate problems.
WWW.PSFK.COM 37

40. SEE SOMETHING, TEXT SOMETHING prepared for
TRACKING SEXUAL HARASSMENT SNAP PICTURES TO SEND COMPLAINTS TO THE CITY CITIZEN SCIENTISTS BUILD NETWORK OF
LOCAL PLANTS AND ANIMALS
CROWDSOURCING REPORTS FOLLOWING OIL SPILL PROJECT GATHERS REPORTS ON PEOPLE’S GOOD ACTS PUBLIC FRUIT MAPPING
Active reporting for collective well-being
38

41. PSFK presents
FUTURE OF REAL-TIME
TRACKING SEXUAL HARASSMENT
HarassMap is a system in Egypt for reporting sexual harass- By empowering individuals to act, the system serves as an
ment via SMS. The tool gives women a way to anonymously advocacy, prevention, and response tool, highlighting the
report icidents as soon as they happen, by instantly mapping severity and pervasiveness of the problem.
the reports online. WWW.HARASSMAP.ORG
WWW.PSFK.COM 39

42. SEE SOMETHING, TEXT SOMETHING prepared for
CO N S U LTI N G
SNAP PICTURES TO SEND COMPLAINTS TO THE CITY
CitySourced is a real-time citizen engagement platform (public safety, quality of life, environmental issues, etc.) and
that makes it easy for citizens to complain to city hall about report them for quick resolution and increased accountability.
anything from graffiti to drug dealers in their neighborhoods. WWW.CITYSOURCED.COM
The mobile application provides a free, simple, and intuitive
platform empowering residents to identify civic issues
40

43. PSFK presents
FUTURE OF REAL-TIME
CITIZEN SCIENTISTS BUILD NETWORK OF LOCAL
PLANTS AND ANIMALS
Noah is a tool that nature lovers can use to document provide key data to researchers on topics like invasive species
local wildlife in their area, creating a platform that research and migration patterns. Users can earn badges as they add to
groups can use to harness the power of citizen scientists. Users their findings, bringing a game element into the experience and
can photograph, tag, identify and learn about the plants and promoting participation.
animals they see around them. The aggregation of this infor- WWW.NETWORKEDORGANISMS.COM
mation allows people to compare notes, track sightings and
WWW.PSFK.COM 41

44. SEE SOMETHING, TEXT SOMETHING prepared for
CO N S U LTI N G
CROWDSOURCING REPORTS FOLLOWING OIL SPILL
Following the Gulf Coast Oil Spill in 2010, the Oil Reporter open Data collected through the Oil Reporter mobile application was
data initiative was launched by Crisis Commons to enhance re- managed by San Diego State University’s Visualization Center in
covery efforts by using real-time check-ins and ground reports. order to provide visualization tools and products based on the
Users could upload photos and videos to note oil, harmed wild- Oil Reporter data.
life sightings, and much more. WWW.OILREPORTER.ORG
42

45. PSFK presents
FUTURE OF REAL-TIME
PROJECT GATHERS REPORTS ON PEOPLE’S GOOD ACTS
Hero Reports is a project from MIT’s Center for Future Civic People report these events through the group’s site,
Media that asks citizens to report on the moments when other providing a brief description, location, images and any
people make a difference. These can be pointing out small acts other relevant information. The project is currently running
of kindness such as giving up a seat for a pregnant woman to in six cities, including New York, Boston and Juarez.
acts of courage like assisting in a car accident. WWW.HEROREPORTS.ORG
WWW.PSFK.COM 43

46. SEE SOMETHING, TEXT SOMETHING prepared for
CO N S U LTI N G
PUBLIC FRUIT MAPPING
Fallen Fruit is a service that creates maps of fruit trees growing Maps are free from copyright and distributed both
on or over public property. Participants in the project track physically and digitally. Communities can use these
detailed information about the location and growth of fruit resources to find and identify fruit growing publicly
trees, which feeds into comprehensive initiatives to visualize in local neighborhoods.
shared food resources within communities. WWW.FALLENFRUIT.ORG
44

47. JOIN THE DISCUSSION ON
SEE SOMETHING, TEXT SOMETHING prepared for
CO N S U LTI N G
“We’re enrolling young people who have cell phones and asking them simple
things like, “Is the water point in your village working today?” The collected data
is analyzed then re-distributed through agreements with newspaper, radio, and
TV stations, so that the young person in the village who actually collected the
information feels connected on a national level. By doing this, we not only inform
them of their entitlements, but engage them in a process of monitoring them.”
Sharad Sapra
UNICEF County Representative, Uganda
“We look at people and their mobile phones as a very interesting opportunity to
allow individuals and communities to engage in systematic data collection that
documents and addresses important things in their lives.”
Deborah Estrin
Director of Center for Embedded Networked Sensing (CENS)
Professor of Computer Science, UCLA
“The data is captured in real-time. You’re not going around and asking people to
give retrospective reports. You’re asking people, in the moment, what’s going on
with them right now.”
Deborah Estrin
Director of Center for Embedded Networked Sensing (CENS)
Professor of Computer Science, UCLA
JOIN THE DISCUSSION ON SEE SOMETHING, TEXT SOMETHING
Add your thoughts and ideas on Twitter and other
social media netowrks using #SeeSomethingTextSomething
45

48. MOBILE
COMMUNITIES
“By having many low-quality sensors dispersed over a large area, perhaps in
people’s mobile phones, we can create a distributed network of sensors. I think
it’s important to avoid the debate over whether that’s good data or not, and look
at it more in terms of the capacity for the participants to start to make sense of
the data they’ve created in their local environment.”
—Usman Haque, Founder and CEO, Pachube / Connected Environments
Building and maintaining virtual communities with simple technology
“By having many low-quality sensors dispersed over a large area, perhaps in
people’s mobile phones, we can create a distributed network of sensors. I think
it’s important to avoid the debate over whether that’s good data or not, and look
at it more in terms of the capacity for the participants to start to make sense of
the data they’ve created in their local environment.”
—Usman Haque, Founder and CEO, Pachube / Connected Environments
“By having many low-quality sensors dispersed over a large area, perhaps in
people’s mobile phones, we can create a distributed network of sensors. I think
it’s important to avoid the debate over whether that’s good data or not, and look
at it more in terms of the capacity for the participants to start to make sense of
the data they’ve created in their local environment.”
—Usman Haque, Founder and CEO, Pachube / Connected Environments

49. PSFK presents
FUTURE OF REAL-TIME
MOBILE COMMUNITIES IMPLICATIONS
The simplicity and ubiquity of mobile phones makes them • Regular tasks become faster through individually-owned,
an ideal platform for organizing communities and coordinating mobile technology. Speed not only changes response
efforts in response to an event. During times of crisis, or time, but fundamentally changes the nature of the tasks,
simply for strengthening existing communities, handsets and relationships of those involved.
can function as a conduit for collaboration and connectivity.
Through new applications and services, networks between • Systems should be easily adopted; viable for social use,
people can be established at the touch of a button. yet equipped for crisis management.
• Through these fast-forming, often temporary communi-
ties, vital information and alerts can quickly be
communicated to large, dispersed populations, ensuring
that all citizens remain in the loop.
• These connections fundamentally change the nature
of people’s interactions and expand what is possible. Le-
veraging the power of the directed, collaborative
effort from a community can bring about real change.
WWW.PSFK.COM 47

50. MOBILE COMMUNITIES prepared for
COLLABORATION TOOL FACILITATES MOBILE MAILING LISTS TEMPORARY NETWORKS BUILT AROUND ANY EVENT
ON-THE-GROUND COMMUNICATION
REAL-TIME TEAM UPDATES USING THE MOBILE WEB TO CONNECT COMMUNITIES PERSONAL “CLOUD PHONE” SERVICE
FOR RURAL USERS WITHOUT A HANDSET
Building and maintaining virtual communities with simple technology
48

51. PSFK presents
FUTURE OF REAL-TIME
COLLABORATION TOOL FACILITATES
ON-THE-GROUND COMMUNICATION
GeoChat is a service for coordinating the efforts of different Through this system, on-the-ground help can ensure
relief organizations. It lets team members interact to an organized, rapid response following a crisis.
maintain shared geospatial awareness of who is doing WWW.INSTEDD.ORG
what where—over any device, on any platform, over any
network, using SMS, email, or a web browser.
WWW.PSFK.COM 49

52. MOBILE COMMUNITIES prepared for
CO N S U LTI N G
MOBILE MAILING LISTS
Patatat lets groups form information communities through text When someone replies, these messages are also sent
messages. Using a web browser, users enter a list of phone to everyone on the list, creating a reliable method for
numbers, Patatat will then broadcast messages to the entire group communication.
group via SMS. WWW.PATATAT.COM
50

53. PSFK presents
FUTURE OF REAL-TIME
TEMPORARY NETWORKS BUILT AROUND ANY EVENT
Fast Society is an iPhone application that makes it easy The interface makes it easy for these groups to share
for people to place contacts into an instant, short-term conversation during shows, without having to maintain
group within the app for group text messaging and one-touch the group afterwards.
conference calling. WWW.FASTSOCIETY.COM
WWW.PSFK.COM 51

54. MOBILE COMMUNITIES prepared for
CO N S U LTI N G
REAL-TIME TEAM UPDATES
Boarrd is a free, highly-customizable dashboard app
that helps keep a project or team up to date on all relevant in-
formation. Users can create public or private status boards and
pull data from various sources including, RSS feeds, Twitter,
Facebook, Flickr and even weather channels.
WWW.BOARRD.COM
52

55. PSFK presents
FUTURE OF REAL-TIME
USING THE MOBILE WEB TO CONNECT COMMUNITIES
Motribe is a platform that enables individuals and small groups to Users can build and own a fully-featured social network
build and manage their own mobile social communities. Based in optimized for the mobile web and can even activate plugins that
Cape Town, South Africa, Motribe is facilitating self-organization include blogs, photo sharing, and real-time chatrooms.
on the mobile web by giving people the ability to meet others WWW.MOTRIBE.COM
who share common interests and connect with them through
their mobile devices.
WWW.PSFK.COM 53

56. MOBILE COMMUNITIES prepared for
CO N S U LTI N G
PERSONAL “CLOUD PHONE” SERVICE FOR RURAL
USERS WITHOUT A HANDSET
MXShare enables people who cannot afford to buy a handset to The system also manages the subscriber’s offline activity, tracking
have their own “Cloud Phone” with their own number. Subscrib- missed calls, sending notification alerts to friends or nearby vil-
ers can access their account using a borrowed handset and enter lage phone operators. Phone owners who lend their handsets also
a network code. The system requires no special hardware and receive a small credit as an incentive for sharing.
works on all basic handsets in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. WWW.MOVIRTU.COM
54

57. JOIN THE DISCUSSION ON
MOBILE COMMUNITIES
prepared for
CO N S U LTI N G
“There are a few very simple approaches to keeping people engaged. First, you
do things that matter to them. Second, you let them see the data and learn from
it. Third, you tie it into social media, and rely on game mechanics to make it
fun. I think we will also start see some form of micro-payment system begin to
emerge—like frequent flyer miles, or perhaps even actual payments.”
Deborah Estrin
Director of Center for Embedded Networked Sensing (CENS)
Professor of Computer Science, UCLA
“There is a lot more information being captured and shared than we can actually
handle. During the recent Tanzanian elections,our platform was quickly overrun
with the number of SMS messages coming into the system—5,000 in one day.
It’s quickly moving from information collection, to the ability to curate that
information effectively.”
Erik Hersman
Co-Founder, Ushahidi
“How do you create a small business model around a data collection system?
One of the ideas that we are exploring is like a frequent flier program. If you
participate in collecting data, you get a few minutes of free talk time, which
you can use yourself or sell to others. If you share even more information, you
get a solar cell phone charger, which you can then use to charge other people’s
phones. It’s important to look for innovative approaches that can make micro
business models out of these small things.”
Sharad Sapra
UNICEF Country Representative, Uganda
JOIN THE DISCUSSION ON MOBILE COMMUNITIES
Add your thoughts and ideas on Twitter and other 55
social media networks using #MobileCommunities

58. INSTANT
MAPPING
“By having many low-quality sensors dispersed over a large area, perhaps in
people’s mobile phones, we can create a distributed network of sensors. I think
it’s important to avoid the debate over whether that’s good data or not, and look
at it more in terms of the capacity for the participants to start to make sense of
the data they’ve created in their local environment.”
—Usman Haque, Founder and CEO, Pachube / Connected Environments
Local tools for creating a shared visual experience
“By having many low-quality sensors dispersed over a large area, perhaps in
people’s mobile phones, we can create a distributed network of sensors. I think
it’s important to avoid the debate over whether that’s good data or not, and look
at it more in terms of the capacity for the participants to start to make sense of
the data they’ve created in their local environment.”
—Usman Haque, Founder and CEO, Pachube / Connected Environments
“By having many low-quality sensors dispersed over a large area, perhaps in
people’s mobile phones, we can create a distributed network of sensors. I think
it’s important to avoid the debate over whether that’s good data or not, and look
at it more in terms of the capacity for the participants to start to make sense of
the data they’ve created in their local environment.”
—Usman Haque, Founder and CEO, Pachube / Connected Environments

59. PSFK presents
FUTURE OF REAL-TIME
INSTANT MAPPING IMPLICATIONS
Maps are a universal tool that have the ability to convey • Maps contain a universal language. They are easily
significant quantities of information, often transcending understood by people of all languages and literacy levels.
language and cultural barriers. This intuitive nature has made
maps the medium of preference for creating a shared visual • Open and accessible tools help ensure that maps
experience. A growing number of open source tools and lo-fi remain a relevant and useful resource for locals and
solutions offer local communities the ability to rapidly gener- visitors alike by enabling flexible solutions that can
ate maps and provide real-time instructions for navigating easily evolve alongside the changing face of any region.
uncharted or changing landscapes. This type of information
• Collaborative mapping initiatives encourage citizens
becomes invaluable for individuals during times of crisis as
to learn more about their surroundings and get involved
they try to gain insights into their own communities.
with their local communities through the exploration of
unfamilar neighborhoods and environments.
• Simple mapping systems can serve as valuable
navigation tools for areas without established
roadways or infrastructure.
WWW.PSFK.COM 57

60. INSTANT MAPPING prepared for
LO-FI SOLUTION FOR AERIAL MAPPING REMOTE CONTROL AIRPLANE CREATES LOCAL MAPS OPEN SOURCE CARTOGRAPHY
COMMUNITY BASED MAPPING PROJECT ONLINE MARKETPLACE FOR GEO-DATA PICTURE-BASED NAVIGATION
Local tools for creating a shared visual experience
58

61. PSFK presents
FUTURE OF REAL-TIME
LO-FI SOLUTION FOR AERIAL MAPPING
Grassroots Mapping is a series of participatory mapping proj- The resulting images are geotagged and stitched into maps
ects focused on communities involved in land disputes. Initiated which are 100x higher resolution that those offered by Google
by the MIT Media Lab‘s Center for Future Civic Media, the proj- and available at an extremely low cost. These maps have been
ect utilizes balloons, kites, and other simple and inexpensive used to support residents’ claims to land title and most recently
tools to produce aerial imagery, inverting the traditional power to document the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in order to assess
structure of cartography. the situation and assist with the response.
WWW.GRASSROOTSMAPPING.ORG
WWW.PSFK.COM 59

62. INSTANT MAPPING prepared for
CO N S U LTI N G
REMOTE CONTROL AIRPLANE CREATES LOCAL MAPS
The Swinglet CAM is a safe and easy-to-use flying camera that With simple drag & drop functions, it is possible to
takes high-resolution pictures automatically—plus it can take pre-program—as well as update during the flight—the position,
off, fly and land all on its own. The drone can be programmed to altitude and behavior of the unmanned drone. In addition to
follow a pre-determined flight path based on a maximum of 20 mapping, potential applications include traffic updating,
GPS coordinates with an operational range of up to 12.5 miles. security, crop and species monitoring.
WWW.SENSEFLY.COM
60

63. PSFK presents
FUTURE OF REAL-TIME
OPEN SOURCE CARTOGRAPHY
OpenStreetMap is a collaborative project to create a freely and government sources has greatly increased both the
editable map of the world. The initial map data was built from speed and accuracy of this work. When large datasets are
scratch by volunteers performing systematic ground surveys available, a technical team will manage the conversion and
using a handheld GPS unit and a notebook, digital camera, importing of the data.
or a voice recorder. More recently, the availability of aerial WWW.OPENSTREETMAP.ORG
photography and other data from commercial
WWW.PSFK.COM 61

64. INSTANT MAPPING prepared for
CO N S U LTI N G
COMMUNITY-BASED MAPPING PROJECT
Tendermaps is an experiment in informal, community-based They are encouraged to define the region with three broad
cartography where people define their neighborhood by creat- factors in mind: the paths they take, the things they love,
ing hand-drawn maps. Community members are handed blank and the location of their community.
maps and asked to define the neighborhood by marking up the WWW.TENDERMAPS.COM
maps with colored markers.
62

65. PSFK presents
FUTURE OF REAL-TIME
ONLINE MARKETPLACE FOR GEO-DATA
SimpleGeo is a service that aims to help developers index, The goal is to give developers the tools to quickly build location
interpret, and consume location data. Described as “iTunes services without worrying about having the money to license from
for geodata,” the Colorado based start-up plans to create a large database or having to quickly scale to create their own.
a wide sampling of geographic datasets and technologies WWW.SIMPLEGEO.COM
that developers can access.
WWW.PSFK.COM 63

66. INSTANT MAPPING prepared for
CO N S U LTI N G
PICTURE-BASED NAVIGATION
BreadCrumbz is a mobile navigation application that creates The result is a personalized, picture-based map that users can
directional routes on the fly. Users create new routes by taking share with others.
geotagged pictures as they travel to visually mark their path. WWW.BCRUMBZ.COM
Images can be tagged and annotated with arrows or other signs
to provide additional context.
64

67. JOIN THE DISCUSSION ON
INSTANT MAPPING
prepared for
CO N S U LTI N G
“Maps provide a snapshot understanding, a simplified understanding,
but they’re not the only way. From the beginning at Ushahidi, we worked
with maps and time-lines together. We think that time and space are
both relevant for real-time information.”
Erik Hersman
Co-Founder, Ushahidi
“It’s all about situational awareness. If you can tell what’s going on around
you, and can get alerts from your neighbor about what’s going on around them,
you have a much better understanding of what’s actually going on. Therefore,
decision-making power is increased when you have relevant information.”
Erik Hersman
Co-Founder, Ushahidi
“We try to use metaphors that are familiar to people—and terms in which they are
already thinking. So maps are an obvious medium.”
Deborah Estrin
Director of Center for Embedded Networked Sensing (CENS)
Professor of Computer Science, UCLA
JOIN THE DISCUSSION ON INSTANT MAPPING
Add your thoughts and ideas on Twitter and other
social media networks using #InstantMapping
65

68. CONTEXT
CARTOGRAPHY
“By having many low-quality sensors dispersed over a large area, perhaps in
people’s mobile phones, we can create a distributed network of sensors. I think
it’s important to avoid the debate over whether that’s good data or not, and look
at it more in terms of the capacity for the participants to start to make sense of
the data they’ve created in their local environment.”
—Usman Haque, Founder and CEO, Pachube / Connected Environments
Creating information landscapes though the union of data and place
“By having many low-quality sensors dispersed over a large area, perhaps in
people’s mobile phones, we can create a distributed network of sensors. I think
it’s important to avoid the debate over whether that’s good data or not, and look
at it more in terms of the capacity for the participants to start to make sense of
the data they’ve created in their local environment.”
—Usman Haque, Founder and CEO, Pachube / Connected Environments
“By having many low-quality sensors dispersed over a large area, perhaps in
people’s mobile phones, we can create a distributed network of sensors. I think
it’s important to avoid the debate over whether that’s good data or not, and look
at it more in terms of the capacity for the participants to start to make sense of
the data they’ve created in their local environment.”
—Usman Haque, Founder and CEO, Pachube / Connected Environments

69. PSFK presents
FUTURE OF REAL-TIME
CONTEXT CARTOGRAPHY IMPLICATIONS
Through the union of data and location, multiple layers • Information gives decision makers at an institutional
of real-time information can be displayed geographically, level quick and accurate information.
providing enhanced situational context for ground crews and
policy makers alike. Highly specific types of information can • Rapidly changing/evolving strategies can be
be especially useful on a large scale to help facilitate decision- geographically mapped and used to influence
making processes at the level of businesses, approachest to a response.
institutions and governments.
• The union of data with place helps ensure that resources
are being distributed equitably across a region and that
they’re tracked while en route to a destination.
• By understanding where an event or situation originated,
response organizations are better equipped to manage or
prevent similar events from occuring in the future.
• Mapping the scale of distant events alongside familar
environments promotes greater understanding through
local context.
• Knowing what is happening at any given time becomes
more meaningful when this information is also linked
to place.
WWW.PSFK.COM 67

70. CONTEXT CARTOGRAPHY prepared for
GLOBAL HEALTH BASED ON LOCAL INFORMATION CREATIVE DATA OVERLAYS ON INTERACTIVE MAPS VISUALIZING COMPLEX SOCIAL AND POLITICAL DATA
SHARED VISUAL EXPERIENCE FOR PUTTING SOCIAL ENTERPRISE ON THE MAP MAPS CREATED AROUND MAJOR EVENTS
DISASTER RESPONSE TEAMS
Creating information landscapes though the union of data and place
68

71. PSFK presents
FUTURE OF REAL-TIME
GLOBAL HEALTH BASED ON LOCAL INFORMATION
HealthMap brings together disparate data sources to achieve Through an automated text processing system, the data
a unified and comprehensive view of the current global state is aggregated by disease and displayed by location for
of infectious diseases and their effect on human and animal user-friendly access to the original alert.
health. The website integrates outbreak data of varying reliabil- WWW.HEALTHMAP.ORG
ity, ranging from news sources to curated personal accounts to
validated official alerts.
WWW.PSFK.COM 69

72. CONTEXT CARTOGRAPHY prepared for
CO N S U LTI N G
CREATIVE DATA OVERLAYS ON INTERACTIVE MAPS
Polymaps is an open-source JavaScript library of controls that Polymaps can load data at a full range of scales, so it
simplifies and standardizes the creation of interactive online is ideal for showing information starting from a country
maps. Created as a collaboration between Stamen Design and level, and descending to states, cities, neighborhoods,
SimpleGeo, the goal of the project is to better support complex, and individual streets.
large-scale data overlays. WWW.POLYMAPS.ORG
70

73. PSFK presents
FUTURE OF REAL-TIME
VISUALIZING COMPLEX SOCIAL AND POLITICAL DATA
The Spatial Information Design Lab at Columbia University spe- geography. This helps researchers and advocates communi-
cializes in visualizing complex political and social data, such as cate information clearly, responsibly, and provocatively. By
incarceration rates and financial expenditures, to help re-envi- reorganizing data using visualization techniques, and locating
sion the relationship between architecture, criminal justice, and it geographically, they attempt to correlate disparate items of
community investment. The lab works with data about space— information and open new spaces for action and options for
numeric data combined with narratives and images to design intervention.
compelling visual presentations that link social data with WWW.SPATIALINFORMATIONDESIGNLAB.ORG
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74. CONTEXT CARTOGRAPHY prepared for
CO N S U LTI N G
SHARED VISUAL EXPERIENCE FOR DISASTER RESPONSE TEAMS
San Diego State University’s Immersive Visualization Center hospitals, refugee camps and other data rarely available to
(Viz Lab) is a Navy-sponsored organization that produces responders. These 3-D representations give command center
geographic renderings for first responders around the globe. employees more accurate and detail-rich images than 2-D maps
Using imagery collected by defense agencies and other types afford, providing responders with an increased level of situ-
of government organizations, the Viz Lab is able to generate ational awareness.
interactive maps depicting damaged locations, WWW.EMERGENCYMGMT.COM/DISASTER/VIZ-LAB-RESPONDERS-DISASTERS.HTML
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75. PSFK presents
FUTURE OF REAL-TIME
PUTTING SOCIAL ENTERPRISE ON THE MAP
iuMap is an online directory that interfaces with Google Maps. and critical information to help the social enterprise com-
Culling together organizations as diverse as health, education, munity learn from successes, failures and challenges, so that
fair trade crafts, and water, the map’s goal is to centralize and decisions can be made more easily, quickly, and cheaply.
codify the functions of these organizations in one, concrete WWW.IUMAP.ORG
hub. The map was created as a response to the lack of central-
ized information, a place where one could find easily digestible
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76. CONTEXT CARTOGRAPHY prepared for
CO N S U LTI N G
MAPS CREATED AROUND MAJOR EVENTS
Dimensions is an experimental prototype for the BBC that Some of these “Dimensions” can be physically experienced as
is designed to provide a human scale to events and places in short, size-accurate walks, that allow individuals to get a first-
history in terms that any person can understand and experi- hand point of view and appreciation of the distances involved.
ence. This is accomplished by overlaying the size of historical WWW.HOWBIGREALLY.COM
events, locations and objects onto satellite views of a person’s
city or neighborhood.
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