A ‘app' analyses the social inequality tied to the mobility in big urbes
Through this information, the investigation pretends to relate the mobility in the big cities with information of social and demographic character. The researcher of the Csic in the Centre of Studies Advanced of Blanes Frederic Bartumeus explains: “With these data try to take out to relucir the possible existent inequalities associated to the use of the public space in the cities and boost his design in function of his use”. The application could relate, for example, determinate areas of the cities with greater levels of pollution and criminality, associated to some concrete social strata.
By his part, the researcher of the University of Princeton John Palmer details: “The majority of us move us only through small areas of the cities in which we live. These areas are important because they determine our access to resources like the health and the feeding”.
‘Space Mapper' Has a series of options that allow to the user decide which type of information wants to facilitate and with which frequency wishes that they register his movements. The data recopilados are encrypted and envoys to a server in the American university where store of form totally anonymous. At present, ‘Space Mapper' only is available for the operating system Android, although Bartumeus ensures that “próximamente will launch the corresponding versions for the rest of mobile platforms”.
The project is, at present, centred in detecting the guidelines of Barcelona, New York and Los Angeles (both in EE UU), although the researcher of the Csic clears that “the information of any another city also will be welcome and analysed”. For Bartumeus, “what elder and more diverse was the sample of users, more significant will be the conclusions”.
The data of mobility will be able to be collated with information on each city related with types of spaces, taxles of criminality and atmospheric pollution, among others. Palmer considers that “what more know on on the cores of better urban activity will comprise the strengths that direct the social inequalities”.
Of the same way, Bartumeus thinks that they will be able to detect problems associated to the own mobility. “It is possible that observe to a significant mass of individuals displace of routine way of a zone of the city to another and that do not exist a good option of transport that connect them, what will allow to propose improvements for said travel”, signals.
Mobile potential
According to his creators, ‘Space Mapper' has been designed with the intention of not interfering with other processes of the telephone and to consume the lower possible battery.
The researcher of the Csic explains that the information of mobility of the users could be facilitated by the telephone companies. Nevertheless, the new mobile devices allow that it was the own user the one who voluntarily can decide if it wants to offer his information and how of precise will be. Besides, Bartumeus explains that “the level of detail that can offer ‘Space Mapper' is greater that the one who obtained by the own telephone companies”.
Independently of the conclusions to which arrive the project, the researcher of the Csic considers to the investigation like a first methodological approximation of the new and potential use of the mobile telephony and his applications to obtain information of social and demographic character in a space context. The analysis of his potential in this field has been published in an article of the magazine ‘Demography'.
The application for Android is available
