The definition of irony includes 'an outcome of events contrary to what was, or might have been, expected'. Take, for example, a group of people who use bicycles to offset the modern convenience of cars because they care about the environment and/or their health. Ironically, they use technology (in the form of the Strava app) to navigate in a world that's not always welcoming. The result? The city of Portland (Oregon, not the much cooler Maine/New Hampshire one) "licensed a Strava metro data set of 17,700 riders and 400,000 bike trips around Portland. That adds up to 5 million BMTs (bicycle miles traveled) logged in 2013 alone" (source: TheVerge). The city will use that data to make bicycling safer in the city, managing infrastructure changes based on riding patterns.
There are some privacy concerns, but the company says the data has been "anonymized" and users have the ability to opt-out. The city and the company admit the data isn't perfect, but my favorite line from the article (and an aphorism I quote often) - don't let perfect be the enemy of the good. Simply, the city has an opportunity to begin shaping policy based on quantifiable data. Is the data perfect? No. Is the data skewed (toward smartphone owners)? A bit. Can design decisions consider the data on 5 million miles of bicycle travel in a single year. Absolutely!
Big data can be scary, creepy, Orwellian? Big data can also improve the pulse of a city, and make it a little safer for bicycles to commute downtown.
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