The smartphone exemplifies the rhetorical smart city movement. This paper examines one potential use of smartphone technology-mapping public transportation services in a megacity of the Global South. We examine the potential user impacts of introducing a smartphone-generated and analog-delivered schematic bus map in Dhaka, Bangladesh. After distributing the map, we used a web-based survey to investigate impacts on users' knowledge, as measured by their stated understanding, navigation, and perceptions of the system. While a small and biased sample, the results suggest that the map fills a knowledge gap, provides useful and valued information, and may stimulate "exploration" of the city and its bus system.
A combination of open data tools and methods, facilitated by data format standardization, has started changing business-as-usual in the transit industry. The General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) has become the de facto standard for releasing public transit route and schedule data. This paper analyzes this rapidly evolving transit information sector through the Mexico City experience. The case illustrates that even a mega-city with several different transit providers can create a fully-functional GTFS feed in a matter of weeks and obtain the benefits of work done elsewhere; thanks to the global open data ecosystem, a range of important free or low-cost applicationscustomer-facing applications and planning toolscan immediately capitalize on these data. However, the Mexico experience also reveals an important limitation of GTFS in its current form: its inability to easily accommodate semi-structured public transit services common in many developing world cities. An adaption to GTFS developed in Mexico City to address this limitation is described. Finally, the case reveals significant untapped potential to maximize the value of this open-data ecosystem, particularly for planning and regulatory tools. new forms of comparative assessment across public transportation systems (e.g., "benchmarking") and new service modeling possibilities (5). GTFS Goes Global The GTFS's simple file structure prompted rapid global adoption: as of November 2013, Google lists 229 public transit agencies around the world that release official GTFS feeds available for developers to use (6). If private transit companies are included, estimates range from 703 (7) or 1,048 (8). GTFS feeds range from covering all public transportation services for a particular region to a single provider. While concentrated in the Global North, GTFS experiences are also emerging in low-and middle-income cities (Table 1). This paper focuses on one such experience, the recent deployment of GTFS feeds in Mexico City. DATA COLLECTION AND GTFS FEED GENERATION IN MEXICO CITY Mexico City (the Federal District or DF) and its metropolitan area (MCMA) epitomize today's megalopolitan challenges. The DF, itself, represents essentially a single jurisdiction (one Mayor) with approximately 8.9 million persons, yet the broader MCMA encompasses some 40 additional local jurisdictions across two states and another 12 million people, posing institutional and operational challenges for transport and other sectors. This case focuses almost exclusively on services in the DF, where since 1975, the transportation secretariat (SETRAVI) has regulated both technical and non-technical aspects of public transportation planning and policy. SETRAVI oversees six relevant services in the DF (not including taxis); the government serves as operator (e.g., STE) or regulator (e.g., DGT) (Table 2). Except for a few lines of the Metro (STC), DF services do not extend into the broader MCMA. GTFS data collection included one metropolitan-scale transit service, the single line commuter rail (Tren Subu...
Accurate maps play a critical role in understanding human communities, particularly for populations at risk. Maps help individuals to understand their surroundings, locate features of interest, plan routes and journeys, and conduct broader scale processes such as urban planning and disaster response. In crisis situations specifically, basemaps and geospatial data act as key tools for first responders and NGOs to visualize damage assessments; assess infrastructure, hazards, and demographics; plan local and larger scale emergency response activities; and share information among relevant actors. A lack of maps and geographic data can prevent lifesaving resources from meeting those in need. For this reason, mapping is a core component of the Red Cross' disaster response efforts.Much of the Global North has been mapped with incredible detail. With an Internet connection or a smartphone, individuals can instantly access detailed address information, building footprints, transit information, and locations for health facilities, public services, and businesses. This is still not the reality for billions of people in vulnerable areas, however. Popular services such as Google Maps lack information for much of the Global South; many communities exist as simply a place name and perhaps a collection of roads. Other communities are absent entirely. Even when a community is mapped at a detailed level, information published without an open license (e.g., many web-maps and PDF maps) offers limited value to humanitarian actors. A user often cannot download the information, combine it with other datasets, and create and share products from it. Thus, the user is essentially viewing a picture of data rather than accessing the data directly. The same is true for mapping products created by government agencies and other traditional mapping authorities, who have
Noise regulations can often have a great impact on the siting of wind turbines. In the United States, there are no national wind turbine noise regulations. State standards are often not in place, leaving wind turbine siting regulations up to local authorities. This presentation discusses an assortment of both state and local standards from the United States, their implications, and from what basis the ordinances are developed.
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