DESCRIPTION
Real Time
NEWS PROJECT STATEMENT In today’s world, wireless mobile communications devices are creating new dimensions of interconnectedness between people, places, and urban infrastructure. This ubiquitous connectivity within the urban population can be observed and interpreted in real-time, through aggregate records collected from communication networks. Real-time visualizations expose the dynamics of the contemporary city as urban systems coalesce: traces of information and communication networks, movement patterns of people and transportation systems, spatial and social usage of streets and neighborhoods. Observing the real-time city becomes a means to understanding the present and anticipating the future of urban environments. In the visualizations of Real Time Rome we synthesize data from various real-time networks to understand patterns of daily life in Rome. We interpolate the aggregate mobility of people according to their mobile phone usage and visualize it synchronously with the flux of public transit, pedestrians, and vehicular traffic. By overlaying mobility information on geographic and socio-economic references of Rome we unveil the relationships between fixed and fluid urban elements. These real-time maps help us understand how neighborhoods are used in the course of a day, how the distribution of buses and taxis correlates with densities of people, how goods and services are distributed in the city, or how different social groups, such as tourists and residents, inhabit the city. With the resulting visualizations users can interpret and react to the shifting urban environment. Real Time Rome respects individual privacy and only uses aggregate data already collected by communication service providers; also, it is hoped that the exhibit will stimulate dialogue on access and responsible use of such data. ROME'S MAPPING LEGACY Real Time Rome fits into a long legacy of depicting the city of Rome through maps. Historical depictions of Rome are superb examples of how maps abstract a single perspective and thus reveal the dominant ideas about the city in its time. A map of the Capitoline Hill, the domain of the goddess Diana, illustrates how a map was once considered a sacred object. Maps allowed people to capture qualities about the city they wouldn’t otherwise understand. As such, maps were endowed with mystical qualities. Giambattista Nolli’s depiction of the city in 1748 is the first iconographic map of Rome (the city was previously drawn from a bird’s eye view). In detailing the city’s streets along with the interiors of public buildings as public space, this map illustrates how much social and public life was valued in late-Renaissance Rome. From another perspective and another time, Edmund Bacon’s (1974) diagrammatic plans of Sixtus V’s urban interventions reveal the logic and significance of landmarks to our understanding of the Eternal City. Today’s interactive maps offered by Google Earth combine detailed aerial and satellite images, sophisticated zooming-panning abilities, and local search functions to create the most powerful maps to date. These maps are also modifiable by users when combined with geotagged, place-related information. Real Time Rome takes those capabilities further to reveal the rhythm of the city as it occurs, in real time. Accessibility Press Materials
The material on this website can be used freely in any publication provided that:
It is duly credited as a project by the MIT Senseable City Lab. PDF copy of the publication is sent to senseable-press@mit.edu For more information, senseable-contacts@mit.edu |
SCREENS Real Time Rome uses six different visual software to present real-time information about Rome. Snapshots and movies of each of these screens are presented here. IMAGES (High-res press images) . |
TEAM Carlo Ratti, Director Andres Sevtsuk, Curator Burak Arikan Assaf Biderman Francesco Calabrese Filippo Dal Fiore Saba Ghole Daniel Gutierrez Sonya Huang Sriram Krishnan Justin Moe Francisca Rojas Najeeb Marc Tarazi PRINCIPAL SPONSOR PARTNERS Biennale di Venezia City of Rome ATAC - Rome Buses Samarcanda Taxi | Microtek |