The article “Urban Tomography” featured in the Journal of Urban Technology by Martin H. Krieger, Moo-Ryong Ra, Jeongyeup Paek, Ramesh Govindan, and Jennifer Evans-Cowley discusses the technology and application of urban tomography. In short, urban tomography is a new use of mobile smartphones to most accurately portray city life. Many smartphone users take video at the same time, which creates a plethora of information that is then automatically archived to record places in time. These “slices” of urban life provide important research information, and can also allow community members to document their own lives. We can learn a lot from these videos, or tomograms, like what a typical perspective is of a community member in a certain area. The flows of the tomograms are also big indicators of what life is really like. Comparing different data from various areas can tell us a lot about everyday life in each area.
Urban tomography still has some challenges to address, such as privacy issues and the organization of such a massive amount of data. However, as discussed in the article “Urban Tomography,” this technology has come a long way. The tools have improved and become more widespread. An increasing number of people worldwide now own smartphones and these phones have the capability for higher quality videos, greater reliability, and security. Researchers in the field can gather endless amounts of useful data about urban life in a variety of areas. But most importantly, these tomograms can also share valuable information with the everyday viewer. They can foster a deeper and more widespread connection between people from all different places.
Jeschaunig, Markus. "Urban Tomography." Archiable - Platform for Architecture Students. 8 Apr. 2011. Web. 05 Feb. 2012.
Krieger, Martin H. , Ra, Moo-Ryong , Paek, Jeongyeup , Govindan, Ramesh and Evans-Cowley, Jennifer(2010) 'Urban Tomography', Journal of Urban Technology, 17: 2, 21 — 36
I really liked the picture example used, it helps people get a better understanding of what urban tomography is. I agree that as technology progresses, so does the different types of urban tomography; such as GPS and smart phones. However, as technology increases, security decreases.
ReplyDeleteTiffany Bui
I liked that you touched upon the issue of privacy. I think that is a big issue with urban tomography that needs to be more thoroughly addressed, because I don't think the answer is very clear.
ReplyDeleteDo people who live in society have the right to their privacy no matter what? Only in their homes? Is it wrong to video/photograph people in public without them knowing? Should people be able to say no to public recording if they aren't supposed to be doing anything wrong?
All of those are important questions that I think need to be answered.
-Rachel Gordon
Group 18
Nice post.
ReplyDeleteI think you explained clearly about urban tomography with a great example. I never thought about privacy when I was doing my post about this subject. It is really a good suggestion I think. Moreover, it is true that we are highly exposed to the world as smartphone is developing to have good quality camera on it.
ReplyDelete- Se Hoon Chung, group 26-