Urban Tapestries: Collaborative Knowledge Mapping Project

1. T-18 Urban Tapestries Chris Giles EEL6788 17-March-2010 University of Central Florida

2. Contents: • Introduction. • Collaborating Organizations. • Description. • Threads, Pockets, Place. • Tie it together. • System Design. • User Interface. • Mobile Handset. • Login, map view, drifting, filters, pockets, content creation, content view. • Web Side. • Web interface. • System Architecture. • Scenario 1. • Scenario 2. • Going Forward.

3. Contents Cont: • Engineering Applications. • Feral Robot Public Authoring. • Feral Robot Description. • Feral Robot Key Features. • System Design. • Processors, Communications, Sensors, Software. • System Architecture. • Prototype Demonstration. • Prototype Demonstration Results. • Follow on Projects. • Final Thoughts. • Changes in mobile handset technology, comparisons, how would you do this using an Android based device? • Sources.

4. Introduction: • “Public Authoring”: • Not a new concept • Example; Wikipedia. • Wikipedia is a “publicly authored” system on a large scale. Most entries focus on the very large scale which also mostly relates to only large sets of people. • Facts and figures. • Urban Tapestries • Similar to Wikipedia, but focuses on small scale and mostly relates to only small sets of people. • Represents a collection of thoughts vs. facts and figures.

5. Introduction Cont: • Urban Tapestries • Concept coined pre-2002 by Proboscis • Researched in collaboration • Focused on creating opportunities for an “anthropology of ourselves”. • Adopted and adapted new and emerging technologies for creating and sharing everyday knowledge and experience by building up organic collections of memories that trace and embellish different kinds of relationships across places, time and communities. • Shows the inner workings and relations of people and places. • Ended 2004

6. Collaborating Organizations: • Proboscis • http://proboscis.org.uk/ • Primary company • London School of Economics • Supporting technical organization • Birkbeck College • Supporting technical organization • HP Research labs • Supporting technical organization • Ordnance Survey • Supporting technical organization • France Telecom R&D • Supporting services organization • Orange • Supporting services organization

7. Description: • Urban Tapestries Is: • A research project and experimental software platform for knowledge mapping and sharing i.e. public authoring. • http://urbantapestries.net/ • Urban Tapestries Does: • Combines mobile and internet technologies with geographic information systems enabling users with the ability to record information about the environment around them. • Produces a mass observation of the environment, from the user’s perspective, in the form of relationships across places, time, and communities. • Urban Tapestries By: • Providing an end-to-end system built for public authoring which encompasses ubiquitous access to a data collection systems. • Wireless client devices and software. • Web based server features for recording and making captured data human readable.

8. Threads, Pockets, & Place:

9. Description Cont: • Threads • Similar to groupings of conversations. • Manages conversations. • Examples; Gmail, Google Groups, & Web Blogs. • http://groups.google.com/ • Like Google groups, single topics are represented by a thread. • Examples; mobility access, favorite cafes, & best scenery. • Responsible for managing user posts. • Connects related pockets together. • Forms a continuous conversation about a topic. • Represented by a line on the map. • Forms a continuous relationship across places, time, and communities. • User can physically see how the topic spans the community.

10. Description Cont: • Pockets • Similar to posts (content) on a website or Web Blog. • Represents user collected content about a specific topic with respect to a physical location. • Can include various forms of media. • Examples; text, pictures, video, etc. • Similar to the content of groupings of conversations. • Actual content of posts in Gmail, Google Groups, & Web Blogs. • Particular information about a place (location). • User collected content inherently includes location. • Examples; “I like this place x”, “this place has y”, & “I do z at this place”.

11. Description Cont: • Place (location). • Pockets are tied to places. • Example; “This particular Starbucks has great espresso”. • Threads tie pockets to a community. • Example; “These downtown coffee chops have great espresso”. • Places tie sets of people to their respective threads. • Example; “Downtown Orlando coffee shops with great espresso”. • Incorporates the community and is generally only meaningful to a small set of individuals.

12. Tie It Together: • Keyword “ubiquitous” • Software running on mobile handset. • Users have mobile access to the user created “urban tapestry” of their community. • Users can add threads and pockets from a mobile handset. • Users can search for threads and pockets. • Contextual search as well as map based search. • Data is topic related and is based on physical location.

13. System Design: Mobile Handset GPS

14. System Design Cont: • Mobile handset running Urban Tapestries software. • Over the Air (OTA) connection to internet. • OTA connection to Geographic Positioning Service (GPS). • Physical location provided to handset. • Web based content server. • Manages storage of user input, threads, & pockets.

15. User Interface • Mobile Handset • Urban tapestries software client. • Client log in. • Map view. • Search. • Content creation and view. • Web Side • Urban tapestries software server. • Web side software view of content. • Map view. • Search. • Content view.

16. Mobile Handset Log In: • User is using client software on the user’s mobile hand set. • User logs into the service. • User is given permission to communicate with the web server.

17. Mobile Handset Map View: • Map view is the primary interface within the client software. • User can zoom & reposition map. • User can see “own” position in the map view. • Threads and pockets are visible as an overlay on the map. • GUI features for creating, filtering, and viewing threads & pockets are available. • Changes what the user sees in the map view.

18. Mobile Handset Drifting: • Drifting is one of the primary map view user interactions. • As a user traverses a region the user can interact with threads and portions of threads based on the users location. • Includes features like filtering and search. • Users can physically traverse a thread if desired. • Example; “Good Cafes”. • The user can also interact with the pockets. • Includes features like viewing and creating.

19. Mobile Handset Filters: • The filter is a GUI component that affects what is over laid on the map view. • Users can filter what threads & pockets are shown on the map view by context. • Examples; images, text, sounds, thread topic, age, and location. • Makes reading the map easier.

20. Mobile Handset Pocket Selection: • From the map view a user can open a pocket based on its location. • Pockets & threads coincide with location. • This location has 2 pockets. • It is possible for a single location to have more than one pocket. • It means that there is more than one related thread or multiple entries within the same topic thread.

21. Content Creation: • Users can create threads and pockets from the mobile device client software. • For topics that don’t exist the user creates a thread and then a corresponding pocket. • Threads can exist without corresponding pockets however there are no user entries without pockets. • Users can publish information within a pocket. • Includes; video, sound, text, pictures, and other sensory input. • Published information is public and available for all to view. • Searchable and viewable, but not modifiable. • Only modifiable by original poster. • Additional data comes in the form of another pocket on the same location. • This is where date & relevance come into play here because older post will most likely be irrelevant to the location.

22. Content View: Demonstrates user readable content.

23. Web Interface:

24. Web Interface Cont: • Users can use a web browser to connect to the web server and work with user created content. • Users can browse for and sort threads and pockets. • View user created content & pockets. • Use the map view to see spatial layout of threads and pockets map view.

25. System Architecture: Everything In-Between

26. Example Scenario 1: • Scenario 1 • Highlights • John checks the mobility & accessibility thread. • Pocket within the mobility & accessibility thread for getting to John’s destination exists. • John takes the mobility impaired path. • John checks threads in the his area. • John finds an interesting pocket in a thread about reading in his area. • John enjoys the recommendation in the pocket. • John creates his own thread about reading books in the park. • John creates the first pocket associated with reading a book in the park in his new thread.

27. Example Scenario 2: • Scenario 2 • Highlights • Erin searches for a thread on a specific topic • Searched by location (physical address). • Thread filters. • Erin reads a pocket posted by another user and post her own pocket in reply.

28. Going Forward: • Urban Tapestries was a part of a social experiment by the primary company. • The urban tapestries prototype software went through two closed trials. • Various results were concluded from the test however the focus of the study’s results was in the form of social experimental results and not in the form of engineering results. • Results; http://research.urbantapestries.net/trials.html • Trials in Dec 2003 & June 2004. • After completion of the social experiment further development of the urban tapestries software pretty much concluded, except for. • The urban tapestries frame work was leveraged later on for some experiments in the wireless sensor network field.

29. Engineering Applications: • The urban tapestries software was extended to allow for wireless sensor applications. • Followed the same client server architecture as before. • Including wireless technologies, threads, pockets, and place. • Added support for sensory threads was added. • Example; air quality thread. • Allowed for public authoring of content by remote sensors. • Remote sensors reported location and measurements of environmental conditions to server. • Used the same paradigm as the user created content paradigm. • Example; text, pictures, etc. • Server made human readable conclusions about the gathered data. • Example; air quality for a region.

30. Feral Robot Public Authoring: • First engineering system to leverage the concept of “ubiquitous” sensory based public authoring • http://socialtapestries.net/feralrobots/ • Pollution Sensing Feral Robots • Project began March 2006 • 2 years after start of urban tapestries frame work. • Engineering students at Birkbeck College recognized the potential for leveraging the system for sensor based input. • Robots roamed an area and reported, periodically, their local sensor-able conditions. • Created an air quality thread. • Pockets and place data included air quality and carbon dioxide measurements.

31. Feral Robot Description: • Capable of wirelessly uploading real-time, geo-referenced environmental data to the Urban Tapestries public authoring servers. • Users could visualize the collected data overlaid on a geographical map. • Autonomous behavior. • Roamed in the direction of detected greater pollution concentration. • However the pictured proof of concept was wirelessly controlled.

32. Feral Robot Key Features: • A small embedded computer with enough resources to run a minimal GNU/Linux operating system. • A set of environmental sensors attached to the system via an analog/digital converter. • A GPS receiver to acquire the current geographic position and correlate it with the data sampled from the sensors. • Collected data wirelessly transmitted to the urban tapestries server via TCP/IP networking. • The entire system powered by batteries and mounted on the target robot. Functions as a remote system.

33. System Design: • Gumstix. • Netgear MA701. • GPS Receiver. • Sensors. • Client Software.

34. System Design Cont: • Processing • Gumstix. • http://gumstix.com/ • Connex 400xm-bt. • Main processor board featuring a low-power Intel XScale processor with clock frequency of 400MHz, 64 MB of RAM, 16MB of flash memory, and Bluetooth. • Robostix. • Add-on board featuring an AVR ATmega128 microcontroller unit with analog to digital capability. • netCF. • Add-on board with integrated Ethernet port and Compact Flash slot which is suitable for a WiFi card with the same interface.

35. System Design Cont: • Communications. • Netgear MA701. • WiFi Card • Supporting 802.11b. • Compact Flash interface. • TCP/IP

36. System Design Cont: • Sensors. • GPS receiver. • General GPS receiver. • Bluetooth. • Real time reporting to processor. • Sensor modules. • Carbon dioxide (CO2) gas sensor. • Figaro AM-4-4161. • Air quality gas sensor module. • Figaro AMS-2100.

37. System Design Cont: • Client Software. • Gumstix hardware platform is supported by customized GNU/Linux. • Small foot print. • The feral robot’s application forms the core of the feral robot’s behavior. • Sampling it’s attached environmental sensors, reading the GPS position, and sending data to the UT server. • Device and file IO. • Simplified by the running OS. • Good for rapid prototyping.

38. System Architecture: Everything In-Between Air Quality CO2 GPS

39. Prototype Demonstration:

40. Prototype Demonstration Cont: • Proboscis and Birkbeck College tested the feral robots out in the field. • Sent about 1700 data packets to the Urban Tapestries server over the space of about an hour. • The feral robots took sensor readings every two seconds, together with a GPS location fix to enable the reading to be correlated with a map and with other forms of local knowledge posted on the urban tapestries platform. • The data captured was analyzed and an online visualization of the test results was posted.

41. Prototype Demonstration Results:

42. Follow on Projects: • Social Tapestries • http://socialtapestries.net/index.html • Picked up where Urban Tapestries left off. • Began in 2004 and ended 2007. • Focused on cross cultural tapestries. • Went in different directions from urban tapestries. • Example; Snout. • http://socialtapestries.net/snout/index.html • Similar to the feral robot pollution sensor. • Worn by people for greater dynamics of environmental sensing.

43. Final Thoughts: • Changes in the mobile handset technology. • Newer changes in the technology of mobile handsets have made remote sensing main stream. • The same type of system is now less complicated to make. • Newer mobile handsets have various embedded sensors and are much more flexible than custom configurations.

44. Final Thoughts Comparisons: Android Based Mobile Handset Custom remote Sensor Platform

45. Final Thoughts Cont: • Comparison • Sensor Android Feral Robot • GPS X X • WiFi X X • GSM X • Blue Tooth X X • CO2 Sensor X • Air quality Sensor X • Accelerometer X • Light X • Magnetic Field X • Orientation X • Proximity X • Temperature X OK, so Android doesn’t cover eccentric features

46. How would you do this using an Android based device? • Only missing components are the air sensors. • Android is an open platform. • Develop an attachment for the Android’s interface port. • Interface port even provides power. • Android applications are developed in Java. • Use the Java packages Java.io.* & Java.net.*. • For sensor attachment device IO. • For client and server communications. • Use Android SDK. • GUI features and working with the Android platform. • Create a server for receiving the data using what ever web based technology you like.

47. Sources: • Urban Tapestries • http://urbantapestries.net/ • Social Tapestries • http://socialtapestries.net/index.html • Feral Robots • http://socialtapestries.net/feralrobots/index.html • Snout • http://socialtapestries.net/snout/index.html • Android Sensors • http://developer.android.com/index.html