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Tag Archives: GPS
Numbers From Around the Web: Round 7
Where are you? A pretty easy question to answer. But, what about, “Where was I?” Not so easy to answer, especially when we start talking about periods of time more than a few days or weeks. Sure, we all have GPS running on our phones now. We can check in with Foursquare/Facebook/Path etc. to keep a log of locations, but that data is fragmented and only represents certain specific locations. What about paths? What would we learn if we knew more about how we traveled about our world?
Aaron Pareki is one of the founders of Geoloqi, a location-based services platform. He has also been tracking his location every 6 seconds for the last four years and he has created some amazing visualizations to better understand his movement:
You may think this is just a boring old map with some travel data layered on top, but what makes this map special is that there is no underlying geospatial data. The lines you see above are Aaron’s actual travel paths from his GPS data. Using this information you can easily see the well traveled roadways by finding the thicker lines. You can even quickly pick out freeways and interstates due to their high speed.
Here you see Aaron’s data for the last four years (again, there are only the GPS traces). You can see he’s color-coded the data ro represent different years in order to see where he spends his time.
Aaron has a lot more visualizations of his GPS traces, but I’ll leave you with this neat video showing a timelapse of his minute-by-minute movement:
Every few weeks be on the lookout for new posts profiling interesting individuals and their data. If you have an interesting story or link to share leave a comment or contact the author here.
Posted in Numbers from Around the Web
Tagged aaron pareki, geoloki, GPS, location, Maps, qstop, travel
3 Comments
Numbers From Around the Web: Round 6
There is something really magical about taking data and turning it into a compelling visual image. Even though I’ve already written a bit about the importance of making data visual, I am consistently amazed at how data can be made more appealing and informative by creating eye-popping graphics. Today we are devoting this NFATW post to some amazing projects with beautiful data.
Tom MacWright is an engineer for MapBox and Development Seed and spends his time creating and using amazing visual representations of his data. Here are just two of many wonderful projects.
A New Running Map
Tom wasn’t happy with the data visualization he was getting from his Garmin GPS and heart rate watch so he decided to build his own using tools he works with every day. What came out was a really interesting interactive website that visualizes his running routes along with his heart rate. Click on the image above to play around with him data.
He’s also created a unique representation of the same time of running data (GPS + HR) that anyone can play with called Ventricle. Ventricle allows you to plot your own running data if you have .gpx files.
A run plotted on Ventricle by Tom MacWright
Minute
I’ve had a long standing interest in how I spend my time interacting with my computer. As a long time RescueTime user I’ve gotten used to having something watching my computer use and informing me about my habits. Tom was also interested in his computer use, but wanted something that had less functionality while still giving him information that was important. So, he developed Minute, a keystroke counter and visualization system that constantly records and displays the keystroke frequency over time.
Tom MacWright's keystroke visualization
By using a heat map he is able to better understand the pattern of his technology usage. Interestingly, he is also able to make inferences about his sleep and leisure time as he treats them as the inverse of his keystroke time:
Minute is an open-source application hosted on github so if you’re interested in understanding your own computer use or want to contribute to the project go take a look at the source code.
We’ll wrap up today with a quote from Tom’s post on what he learned from developing and using Minute:
Tracking nearly anything you do is alarming and humbling. The aggregates of our actions are lost on us: we can watch hundreds of hours of television and write it off as a small time commitment. How much is too much? It’s hard to make pretty charts without learning something and thinking about what they should look like.
Every few weeks be on the lookout for new posts profiling interesting individuals and their data. If you have an interesting story or link to share leave a comment or contact the author here.
Posted in Numbers from Around the Web
Tagged computer use, GPS, heart rate, keystrokes, qstop, running, Tom MacWright, typing, visualization
1 Comment
Crowd-Tracking Noise and Air Pollution
A new noise/ozone sensor watch being tested in Europe.
Quantified Self enthusiast David Purdy asked me one day, “Why aren’t people measuring simple ambient things like background noise?”
I didn’t have a good answer at the time, but I do now. It turns out a project in France is doing just what David suggested.
Posted in Personal Projects
Tagged devices, environment, france, GPS, noise, pollution, qstop
2 Comments
Exposure: GPS Insight Punishes a Competitor
The same ubiquitous traces that make it easier for us to track ourselves make it easier for other people to track us. So we always take an interest in stories of accidental self-exposure. Here, without too much comment, is a link to today’s notable incident. It comes from the world of GPS tracking; specifically, from a highly competitive business sector where, we gather, salespeople commonly pose as customers to gain knowledge of what their rivals are doing.
In this case, a sales guy from one company got a bit too aggressive, and his target took revenge. Using server records, IP searchers, a Plaxo and LinkedIn profile, and some archived Craigslist postings, the folks at GPS insight published a pretty embarrassing account.
Rob Donat, the President of GPS Insight, has done this sort of thing before. Last year he noticed a single order he described as “fishy,” and figured out that it was coming from Jim Duncan, President of NavTrak, another competitor. Donat posted the record of his investigation on his blog.
There is a lesson here that probably doesn’t need to be spelled out.
Nike+ Apple Workout Monitor
“Nike +” is the monitoring system embedded into specific Nike shoes which allow you to record data about your runs. In one version (not the Sports Band) the system transmits this information to your iPod, and soon to your iPhone.
Apple has filed patents for improving the system. According to Engadget which publicized the filed patent application, the newest features of Apple’s include additional sensors in the shoe.
“The system relies on integrating GPS and additional shoe-based sensors into the system measuring your stride, the condition of the shoe, and perhaps even blasting you advertisements along your run route. The system can measure your velocity with accuracy in the range of 0.1 MPH, and let you know if you’re a toe-planter or a heel-planter when you run.”
Also according to Engadget, Nike + Apple are extending their system so it can communicate with gym equipment. “Nike and Apple worked with major gym equipment manufacturers to make their cardio equipment Nike + iPod compatible so gym members can easily track and record workouts on cardio equipment like treadmills, stair steppers, elliptical trainers and stationary bikes. According to Nike’s own announcement, Life Fitness, Precor, Star Trac and Technogym are already on board and working on iPod-ready equipment, while participating gyms (including 24 Hour Fitness and Virgin Active Health Clubs) are supposedly set to starting rolling ‘em out sometime this summer.”
Nike’s site currently lists 10 locations where gyms are compatible with NIke + gear.
Self-Tracker
Smack in the middle of the arena of self-surveillence is this tiny flash-stick-sized location tracker, the Trackstick. It is tiny. Gets lost in your coat pocket, or backpack. You carry it around wherever you go. Once a month you download its records from its built in USB port and plot your course on an online mapping service, like Google Earth.
The device has no display and its small AAA batteries are cheap — but they will last only one week. You can find a Trackstick II for about $180 at Google Earth store. I have not used one, so can’t verify how well it picks up satellites in your pocket.