1. Birmingham City Open Data Under Threat
Ellis Dodwell and Camilla Desideri
Description
Provides a data visualisation of traffic flow in the Birmingham area and an online dashboard showing congestion spots. Could offer a Tweet option for individuals before setting out on a regular journey traffic warning them of disruption andlikely delays and a Tweet/text option to traffic managers so that they can consider interventions. Could also alert planners and mangers when individual UTMC sensors are not sending back data.
Technology
Open Street Map for map base.
Using Plotly and Leaflet Library for data visualisation.
Data used
Real time UTMC data published on the Birmingham City Council UTMC API.
Prize
Yes. Award of Innovation Engine space.
Judges remarks
A lot of thinking and interface development in a short amount of time.Has real potential to be developed into a useful interface that does not rely on proprietary sources. Could be used by traffic planners and managers to help monitor traffic and plan interventions.
2. HS2 HGV Traffic Heat Map
Team: Andrew Gaitskell (HS2) and Brian Prangle (Open Street Map / Mappa Mercia)
Description
Traffic heat map showing anticipated HS2 HGV traffic intensity and flows – for the purpose of demonstrating the Service the developers chose Birmingham International Airport – around HS2 construction compounds.
Technology
- ArcGIS to extract CSV data of Traffic Link and HS2 Compound Location Data from GeoDatabase file downloaded from eB (HS2’s document management system)
- Online XY to Lat,Long coordinate converter. http://gridreferencefinder.com/batchConvert/batchConvert.php
- Excel to manipulate data and match XY Conversions to Traffic Flow Data
- Open Street Map for base map
- Used https://carto.com/ to display the location of the compounds and Traffic flow data
Data used
Machine-readable extracts from published documents.
GeoDatabase Files of HS2 Traffic Links and Compound Locations.
Prize
Raspberry Pi 3
Judges remarks
A striking example of an entry that demonstrated shortcomings in the manner in which data is published by the organisation that some members of the team worked for, leading to them finding a fix for this which they will take back to their organisation, in this case, HS2 with a recommended enduring fix. Nothing like a bit of user testing to highlight improvements and a swift response by HS2 data managers to find a solution.
HS2’s Andrew Gaitskell presenting their work to audience at Department for Transport, 24 January 2017 (big thanks to Katherine Attwood for recording this)
Andrew Gaitskell of HS2 presenting to DfT on results of #brumdatahack https://t.co/nYAB8cN0Fj
— Katherine Attwood (@katherineattwoo) 24 January 2017
3. Brake-Thru
Team: Andrew Gaitskill, Lu Bai, Brian Prangle, Ivan Wells, Balakumar Selvaraj, Monica Howat, Tom Wragg and Tudor Sirbu
Description
App to bringing richer and more accurate information to the car users via their smartphones to overcome the shortcomings and frequent inaccuracy of Motorway variable message signs (VMS) and advisory signs. Would exploit crowd sourced data and images and report users GPS geotagging to provide real time reporting of incidents. Would seek NFPA 704 diamond label recognition. Would enable users to register for alerts by location and level of altering.
Technology
None – would use APIs to NTIS and HTML5 App interface once implemented.
Data used
None – but would use crowdsourced data to supplement Highways England NTIS data if implemented.
Prize
None
Judges remarks
The team clearly recognised the benefits of bringing richer and more accurate information to the car users to overcome the shortcomings and frequent inaccuracy of Motorway variable message signs (VMS) and advisory signs and the challenge of getting sufficient App uptake in crowded market. However the judges felt that the proposed use of an App, although well visualised, ignored the challenges of mobile signal penetration along the strategic road network, particularly in rural areas. That said the team had considered the fact that a mobile application could not be used by a sole driver without a passenger to assist them and recommended a voice activated and aural solution.
4. A Breath of Fresh Air
Team: Ian Owen, Peter Radford, Martin Parretti, Paula Jobson and Martin Dow
Description
Children wear Smiley Face / Sad Face LED badges linked to an small lightweight inexpensive (~£50) air quality sensors worn by children to nudge parents into parking away from schools to conserve air quality around schools, thereby turning the children into planet ambassadors. Could get children even more involved through projects in which they build sensors and badges. Could link to Fitbits etc. Could provide a map of data collected.
Focus of project
Our teams focus of choice was air quality and parents’ concerns for the health of their children.
We wanted to add data of the physical experience of children in their day to day activities of participating in the school run with the aim to challenge the decisions made by parents. Currently there is no cheap reliable air quality monitor that can be worn by kids as they walk around. We envisioned a kid would register where they experienced good quality air / bad quality air on an electronic badge that they have built and details can be filled in later at a pc. The data is mapped against a background of green infrastructure (trees, parks, rivers, etc) and the transport network, with representations of current activity / congestion on the network.
The two day session ended with our presentation of a prototype badge in action and a mock-up of a web based map, though both had technical issues we focused on conveying the potential.
Technology
Arduino electronics platform.
Data used
None but would use data generated by sensors.
Prize
Raspberry Pi 3
Judges remarks
Would provide a nudge to parents and encourage children of school age to think differently about air quality before they are fixed into a high level of acceptance of the world as it is.
5. Birmingham Bus Tracker, by Tom Forth TomForth.co.uk/bustracker
Description
Provides a dashboard for bus delay suitable for use by traffic managers and planner and bus companies to provide an accurate measure of current route performance. Could show average delay from historic data and current delay from live API.
Technology
Python and HTML5 data visualisation interface.
Data used
Bus GPS and other location services.
Prize
Judges commendation.
Judges remarks
Would fill a much needed gap in the planning and bus performance area of many local authorities.