T-18
Urban Tapestries
Chris Giles
EEL6788 17-March-2010
University of Central Florida
Contents:



Introduction.
Collaborating Organizations.
Description.




Threads, Pockets, Place.
Tie it together.
System Design.
User Interface.

Mobile Handset.


Web Side.





Login, map view, drifting, filters, pockets, content creation, content view.
Web interface.
System Architecture.
Scenario 1.
Scenario 2.
Going Forward.
Contents Cont:

Engineering Applications.




Feral Robot Description.
Feral Robot Key Features.
System Design.



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
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Processors, Communications, Sensors, Software.
System Architecture.
Prototype Demonstration.
Prototype Demonstration Results.
Follow on Projects.
Final Thoughts.


Feral Robot Public Authoring.
Changes in mobile handset technology, comparisons, how would you do this
using an Android based device?
Sources.
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.
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
Collaborating Organizations:

Proboscis



London School of Economics


Supporting technical organization
France Telecom R&D


Supporting technical organization
Ordnance Survey


Supporting technical organization
HP Research labs


Supporting technical organization
Birkbeck College


http://proboscis.org.uk/
Primary company
Supporting services organization
Orange

Supporting services organization
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.
Threads, Pockets, & Place:
Description Cont:

Threads

Similar to groupings of conversations.


Manages conversations.
Examples; Gmail, Google Groups, & Web Blogs.


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.


http://groups.google.com/
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.
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”.
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.
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.
System Design:
Mobile Handset
GPS
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.
User Interface

Mobile Handset

Urban tapestries software client.




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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Content View:
Demonstrates user readable content.
Web Interface:
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.
System Architecture:
Everything In-Between
Example Scenario 1:

Scenario 1
 Highlights
 John checks the mobility & accessibility thread.



John checks threads in the his area.



Pocket within the mobility & accessibility thread for getting to
John’s destination exists.
John takes the mobility impaired path.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Feral Robot Description:



Capable of wirelessly
uploading real-time, georeferenced 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.
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.
System Design:





Gumstix.
Netgear MA701.
GPS Receiver.
Sensors.
Client Software.
System Design Cont:

Processing
 Gumstix.
 http://gumstix.com/
 Connex 400xm-bt.


Robostix.


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.
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.
System Design Cont:

Communications.
 Netgear

MA701.
WiFi Card

Supporting 802.11b.
Compact Flash interface.
 TCP/IP

System Design Cont:

Sensors.
 GPS



receiver.
General GPS receiver.
Bluetooth.
Real time reporting to processor.
 Sensor

Carbon dioxide (CO2) gas sensor.


modules.
Figaro AM-4-4161.
Air quality gas sensor module.

Figaro AMS-2100.
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.
System Architecture:
Everything In-Between
Air Quality
CO2
GPS
Prototype Demonstration:
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.
Prototype Demonstration Results:
Follow on Projects:

Social Tapestries
 http://socialtapestries.net/index.html
 Picked up where Urban Tapestries left
 Began in 2004 and ended 2007.
 Focused on cross cultural tapestries.
off.
 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.
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.
Final Thoughts Comparisons:
Android Based Mobile Handset
Custom remote Sensor Platform
Final Thoughts Cont:

Comparison













Sensor
GPS
WiFi
GSM
Blue Tooth
CO2 Sensor
Air quality Sensor
Accelerometer
Light
Magnetic Field
Orientation
Proximity
Temperature
Android
X
X
X
X
Feral Robot
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
OK, so Android doesn’t cover eccentric features
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.


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.


Interface port even provides power.
GUI features and working with the Android platform.
Create a server for receiving the data using what ever
web based technology you like.
Sources:

Urban Tapestries


Social Tapestries


http://socialtapestries.net/feralrobots/index.html
Snout


http://socialtapestries.net/index.html
Feral Robots


http://urbantapestries.net/
http://socialtapestries.net/snout/index.html
Android Sensors

http://developer.android.com/index.html