Fred Truman
Design & Code Creative
The Networked Street
September 21, 2011
View all objects, their properties and specific locations or Download Google Earth KML File
The assignment:
- Choose a one-block stretch of a relatively high-density mixed-use or commercial district convenient to you;
- Walk both sides of the block, slowly, carefully and attentively;
- Catalogue every physical object you encounter that is drawing information off of the street in some way, and providing that information to a network of one sort or another;
- Catalogue, as well, every object you encounter that is somehow returning networked information to the street, whether as a display or as the state of some physical system;
- Indicate locations where networked information is being acted upon by pedestrians, drivers, or other users of the city;
- Photograph the networked objects you encounter, and annotate their precise locations on a map of the area. Where the networked object has a field of effect or area of operation (i.e. a CCTV camera’s field of view), try to indicate this on the map as well;
- Of each object you encounter, ask yourself: how would I gain access to the data stream this object produces? How easy would it be for a nonspecialist to do so? Would it require payment, or some kind of official credential? Annotate the objects depicted on your map with some indication as to what kind of data you think they produce.
To tackle this little exercise I knew I needed to start with a decent commercially-zoned block with enough objects warranting network connectivity to make it interesting. Living in a semi-residential area I decided that I might want to venture downtown slightly and settled on one block section of the Fulton Street Mall in Brooklyn. The blocks on this stretch are slightly skewed off the grid so that the left side of the street intersects halfway down the block of the right and vice versa (look at the map and you’ll know what I mean) so I limited my walk to one full stretch of street on either side even though the two didn’t match up perfectly.
I walked each side slowly at first, sizing the situation up and making sure I had made a good choice. Immediately I began noticing the numerous traffic management objects displaying feedback on to the street. Then the street lights. Then the objects centered around fire prevention. It took me a bit to consider that the busses flying through the area were displaying information being acted upon pedestrians and surprisingly it took me a minute or two to consider signs in the storefronts. Which I think opposes the typical way I might walk down this stretch: eyes gawking at the LED signs selling extremely goofy gear. At this point, before I dove into the objects themselves I decided that I would take wider angle reference shots. Rather than write on a print-out of a map, I figured the reference shots would contain all the location information I needed to piece everything together in a Google map.
View all objects, their properties and specific locations or Download Google Earth KML File
Coming back around to where I had started, I decide to start taking photos of the objects I encountered that I thought might qualify, in the order that I found them which I figured would also help me piece them back together after. I immediately started to get looks from everyone noticing me taking photos. I avoided eye contact and carried on.
Once I got back to a computer and began piecing it together it became clear what each object’s purpose was. Here’s how I categorized what I found:
- Fire (is that fire alarm networked??)
- Traffic Management
- Transportation
- Street Lights
- Signs (private)
Basically everything relates to some kind of public utility except for the cheesy and barely “networked” or even useful LED signs in the store fronts, and it’s really amazing the amount of ConEd grates I noticed in the sidewalk which I assume corresponds to the volume and complexity of the traffic management objects found within only this one block stretch – and the electricity that they need. I noticed a CCTV grate in the sidewalk as well, which set me off on a goose chase for the cameras which I imagine are used to monitor traffic – but to no avail. I’m actually really surprised that I couldn’t find a single camera on this stretch, considering I did a similar sensor walk along Myrtle Ave in Brooklyn and noticed TONS. Maybe it’s a more paranoid area, or maybe the businesses in the Fulton Mall can count on a more active Police presence to monitor their store fronts. I’m not entirely sure if traffic is monitored with cameras here in the city (or with some kind of pressure sensors in the road), but I started getting thinking more about the orchestration of traffic flowing through the city and how difficult it must be to manage.
Most of the data here (especially the utility data) probably moves through a closed and secure network managed in giant warooms at ConEd or City Hall (or some where), I imagine, and is probably pretty difficult to access. Some networks however, like the bus display or the LED displays, are most likely ridiculously easy to access but would probably require you to be in close physical proximity. I doubt a flashing LED display, reading “WE BUY” has a wireless feed of its data.