How can researchers and universities make better use of smartphones?
Programming dedicated apps for different research needs is costly both in the time and resources needed. It also requires deeper programming skills not always available to the average researcher.
Pollion, a new service for researchers, tries to answer this problem by providing a flexible data collection platform for different research needs.
Pollion is able to collect deep behavioural data from respondents through short surveys and the smartphone's various sensors (e.g. GPS signal). This makes it possible to collect individuals' behaviour across geographic space for example.
Pollion can also be used for more elaborate designs using the day reconstruction method or simpler tasks such as getting instantaneous feedback from a study group (e.g. course evaluations).
Pollion will be launching across major smartphone operating systems soon. Get more information on the Pollion website.
Showing posts with label GIS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label GIS. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 06, 2013
Friday, May 01, 2009
Google Hot Trends: Crime Mapping
Crime Mapping is a Google hot trend that peaked at #3 about 6 hours ago, with 21% of search volume in Los Angeles, CA and 6% of search volume in Montclair, CA. It's now at #9. Here's the most recent graph from Google Hot Trends:
Crime mapping is used by analysts in law enforcement agencies to map, visualize, and analyze crime incident patterns. It is a key component of crime analysis and the CompStat policing strategy. Mapping crime, using Geographic Information Systems (GIS), allows crime analysts to identify crime hot spots, along with other trends and patterns. CrimeMapping.com is one of the major websites that provide information about recent crime activity by neighborhood. ClearMap is the Chicago Police Department offering. Using SpotCrime, it's possible to look at crime mapping in Dublin:
http://www.spotcrime.com/ie/dublin
Economists have some timely insights to offer on the cyclicality of crime behaviour. Derek Deadman and Ziggy MacDonald from the University of Leicester have shown that the general level of recorded crime fell in the United States and many European countries in the ten years previous to 2008. However, a recent issue of Scientific American asks "Will the Recession Spark a Crime Wave?". This fear is also becoming notable in the American media: Will Recession Make Cities Dangerous Again?
Bruce Weinberg from Ohio State University and his collaborators Eric D. Gould of Hebrew University and David Mustard of the University of Georgia have examined the crime behaviour of young males with no more than a high school education — the demographic group that commits the most crime. These authors find that average wages and unemployment rates were directly linked to the incidence of property crimes. Rick Rosenfeld, a criminologist at the University of Missouri–St. Louis, says: “I don’t think that newly unemployed people become criminals,” Rosenfeld notes, but “marginal consumers—the shopper who goes to discount stores—many of those consumers turn to street markets during an economic downturn. These are often markets for used goods, but some are stolen goods. As demand increases, incentives for criminals to commit crimes expand.”
Kevin Denny and Colm Harmon from UCD, along with Reamonn Lydon from the University of Warwick, have done an "Econometric Analysis of Burglary in Ireland". They model the level of burglary in Ireland between 1952 and 1998. The share of young males in the population is associated with higher levels of crime. Imprisonment and detection act as powerful forces for reducing crimes. The effects of aggregate consumption are more difficult to pin down but Denny, Harmon and Lydon show that higher spending is associated with more lucrative but probably fewer crimes. One somewhat surprising result is that they were unable to find any robust effect from direct measures of labour market activity such as unemployment rates or wage levels.
Crime mapping is used by analysts in law enforcement agencies to map, visualize, and analyze crime incident patterns. It is a key component of crime analysis and the CompStat policing strategy. Mapping crime, using Geographic Information Systems (GIS), allows crime analysts to identify crime hot spots, along with other trends and patterns. CrimeMapping.com is one of the major websites that provide information about recent crime activity by neighborhood. ClearMap is the Chicago Police Department offering. Using SpotCrime, it's possible to look at crime mapping in Dublin:
http://www.spotcrime.com/ie/dublin
Economists have some timely insights to offer on the cyclicality of crime behaviour. Derek Deadman and Ziggy MacDonald from the University of Leicester have shown that the general level of recorded crime fell in the United States and many European countries in the ten years previous to 2008. However, a recent issue of Scientific American asks "Will the Recession Spark a Crime Wave?". This fear is also becoming notable in the American media: Will Recession Make Cities Dangerous Again?
Bruce Weinberg from Ohio State University and his collaborators Eric D. Gould of Hebrew University and David Mustard of the University of Georgia have examined the crime behaviour of young males with no more than a high school education — the demographic group that commits the most crime. These authors find that average wages and unemployment rates were directly linked to the incidence of property crimes. Rick Rosenfeld, a criminologist at the University of Missouri–St. Louis, says: “I don’t think that newly unemployed people become criminals,” Rosenfeld notes, but “marginal consumers—the shopper who goes to discount stores—many of those consumers turn to street markets during an economic downturn. These are often markets for used goods, but some are stolen goods. As demand increases, incentives for criminals to commit crimes expand.”
Kevin Denny and Colm Harmon from UCD, along with Reamonn Lydon from the University of Warwick, have done an "Econometric Analysis of Burglary in Ireland". They model the level of burglary in Ireland between 1952 and 1998. The share of young males in the population is associated with higher levels of crime. Imprisonment and detection act as powerful forces for reducing crimes. The effects of aggregate consumption are more difficult to pin down but Denny, Harmon and Lydon show that higher spending is associated with more lucrative but probably fewer crimes. One somewhat surprising result is that they were unable to find any robust effect from direct measures of labour market activity such as unemployment rates or wage levels.
Sunday, February 03, 2008
A different view of commuting
This map includes hot spots where you can reach the London city centre in a
quicker than expected time.
http://www.mysociety.org/2007/more-travel-maps/
An addition to the concept is to compare different variables. For instance, time taken to travel via different transport options. This map shows areas where public transport is quicker than travel by car.
http://www.mysociety.org/2007/more-travel-maps/EH12QL_driving_800.png
Using a bike seems to be the optimum choice if you live within reasonable distance to the city centre:
http://www.mysociety.org/2007/more-travel-maps/SW1P4DR_20km_cycling_800.png
Starting to conceptualise space in terms of travel time, emotion, and pollution variables using graphing and weather systems type visualisations is something that is being pushed forward by a small group of programmers and artists resulting in alternative city maps..
One useful function is that they have modeled house prices and commuting time in a visualisation programme meaning you can see the optimum areas in terms of these two variables..
http://www.mysociety.org/2007/more-travel-maps/
Interactive map
http://www.tom-carden.co.uk/p5/tube_map_travel_times/applet/
quicker than expected time.
http://www.mysociety.org/2007
An addition to the concept is to compare different variables. For instance, time taken to travel via different transport options. This map shows areas where public transport is quicker than travel by car.
http://www.mysociety.org/2007
Using a bike seems to be the optimum choice if you live within reasonable distance to the city centre:
http://www.mysociety.org/2007/more-travel-maps/SW1P4DR_20km_cycling_800.png
Starting to conceptualise space in terms of travel time, emotion, and pollution variables using graphing and weather systems type visualisations is something that is being pushed forward by a small group of programmers and artists resulting in alternative city maps..
One useful function is that they have modeled house prices and commuting time in a visualisation programme meaning you can see the optimum areas in terms of these two variables..
http://www.mysociety.org/2007
Interactive map
http://www.tom-carden.co.uk/p5
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
Ecological Economics Journal
"The journal is concerned with extending and integrating the study and management of “nature's household” (ecology) and “humankind's household” (economics). This integration is necessary because conceptual and professional isolation have led to economic and environmental policies which are mutually destructive rather than reinforcing in the long term."
For more see: Ecological Economics
This journal includes a recent paper entitled "Happiness, geography and the environment" authored by UCD researchers Finbarr Brereton, J. Peter Clinch, and Susana Ferreira.
Abstract:
In recent years, economists have been using socio-economic and socio-demographic characteristics to explain self-reported individual happiness or satisfaction with life. Using Geographical Information Systems (GIS), we employ data disaggregated at the individual and local level to show that while these variables are important, consideration of amenities such as climate, environmental and urban conditions is critical when analyzing subjective well-being. Location-specific factors are shown to have a direct impact on life satisfaction. Most importantly, however, the explanatory power of our happiness function substantially increases when the spatial variables are included, highlighting the importance of the role of the spatial dimension in determining well-being.
For more see: Ecological Economics
This journal includes a recent paper entitled "Happiness, geography and the environment" authored by UCD researchers Finbarr Brereton, J. Peter Clinch, and Susana Ferreira.
Abstract:
In recent years, economists have been using socio-economic and socio-demographic characteristics to explain self-reported individual happiness or satisfaction with life. Using Geographical Information Systems (GIS), we employ data disaggregated at the individual and local level to show that while these variables are important, consideration of amenities such as climate, environmental and urban conditions is critical when analyzing subjective well-being. Location-specific factors are shown to have a direct impact on life satisfaction. Most importantly, however, the explanatory power of our happiness function substantially increases when the spatial variables are included, highlighting the importance of the role of the spatial dimension in determining well-being.
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