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Incoming Metaverses: Digital Mirrors for Urban Planning

By 30 Days in ActiveWorlds, Metaverse, Mirror Worlds, Second Life No Comments

The planning process has been, arguably, slow to adapt and adopt new technologies: It is perhaps only now that it is starting to move into a more digitally focused era. Yet, it is not the current thinking around the digital that is going to change planning; it is the emerging metaverse. It is a change on the near horizon that is there but is currently largely unseen in the urban planning profession. The metaverse is, at first sight, a mirror to the current world, a digital twin, but it is more than this: It is an inhabited mirror world where the physical dimensions and rules of time and space do not necessarily apply. Operating across scales, from the change of use of a building up to a local plan and onwards to the scale of future cities, these emerging metaverses will exist either directly within computational space or emerge into our physical space via augmented reality. With economic systems operating via blockchain technology and the ability to instigate aspects of planning law, interspaced with design fiction type scenarios, they represent a new tool kit for the urban planner, spatial, economic, and social. We explore these emerging spaces, taking a look at their origins and how the use of game engines have allowed participation and design to become part of the workflow of these 3D spaces. Via a series of examples, we look at the current state of the art, explore the short term future, and speculate on digital planning using these incoming metaverses 10 years from now.

 

Hudson-Smith, A., & Batty, M. (2022). Ubiquitous geographic information in the emergent Metaverse. Transactions in GIS, 26, 1147– 1157. https://doi.org/10.1111/tgis.12932

Ubiquitous geographic information in the emergent Metaverse

By Metaverse, papers No Comments

Another new paper – this time with Michael Batty –

We sketch a brief history of the development of virtual geographic environments which build on online gaming, three-dimensional representations of cities, and the notion that computer technologies are now so all-pervasive that many different models of the same phenomenon, in this case, geospatial systems, can now be built. This enables new forms of analysis that let us explore future spatial scenarios which address key urban problems through virtual environments. These allow us to experiment with the near future and to this end, we identify three key issues. First, we look at how we can use new technologies to develop all-embracing digital environments which are loosely called the “Metaverse”; second, the development of many models which form various kinds of digital twins having different degrees of “closeness” to the real system; and third, the emergence of platform economies that are beginning to push Metaverse-like technologies into the economic world of networked markets. We conclude with suggestions that these technologies can be used to inform our plan-making capabilities, for example, through geodesign, and we suggest how we might address the key challenges that need to be addressed to make their approaches ever more relevant to urban planning.

You can read the full paper over the Transactions in GIS – Hudson-Smith, A., & Batty, M. (2022). Ubiquitous geographic information in the emergent Metaverse. Transactions in GIS, 26, 1147– 1157. https://doi.org/10.1111/tgis.12932

Land Use Policy

Applying cybernetic principles to the co-creation of spaces

By online planning, papers, planning No Comments

Another new paper, written with a number of colleagues from The Bartlett School of Planning –

The paper is based on the experience of creating and piloting a functioning ‘Incubator’ crowdsourcing platform for designing public spaces in an estate regeneration project in South London. The paper uses a cybernetics framework to analyse and present the way the platform itself was created and how issues of effectiveness, efficiency and equity were dealt with. It explores the generic qualities of interface and reviews applications of variety reduction in established crowdsourcing CS) models. It briefly presents the legal and socio-spatial parameters (like property rights) associated with the creation of the Incubators platform as well as the generic rules applicable to human-spatial relationships, based on studies exploring human-spatial interactions. Practical constraints including costs, catchments, life-span and meaningful feedback are looked into, followed by a discussion on social and political limitations associated with this form of public participation. 

It can be read in full in Land Use Policy – Designing an incubator of public spaces platform: Applying cybernetic principles to the co-creation of spaces. https://sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264837722002149

Neopixel Barometer

Open Weather Map NeoPixel Barometer – Open Gauges

By Blog, Making, Open Gauges
Open Weather Map Barometer

Open Weather Map Barometer

The Open Gauges project aims to allow open-source data gauges to be built, modified, and viewed as both physical (3d printed) and digital gauges. Depending on the user’s preference the models can be made to run from any online data source with a data feed – from Weather Data with Air Pressure, Temperature, Wind Speed etc though to Air Quality Gauges, Noise Meters, Energy etc.

Part of the initial release, from the Connected Environments Team at The Bartlett Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis, University College London, and alongside the more traditional ‘dial style’ gauges, is our new Neopixel Barometer, updated for Open Weather Map. Back in October we published the Weather Flow version, this new, open source version is specifically designed to use the free Open Weather Map API, making it easier to use.

Designed to be as simple as possible it is powered by a Raspberry Pi and uses the data feed from the Open Weather Map Single Call API, making it open to anyone with data available world world, according to your choice of location. So you could chose to display local Barometric Pressure or have a series of them on display showing locations around the world. Each gauges updates every 5 minutes with a Green Pixel to note successful data collection and Red for unsuccessful

Full code and files can be found in the Open Gauges Github Repository.

Data Source

The barometer uses the One Call API from Open Weather Map, provided as JSON.

Data displayed

The Neopixel Barometer displays current sea level air pressure (Mb) and the current pressure trend – Rising, Steady, Falling.

The data updates every five minutes with a sweep of blue/yellow neopixels on power up. The pressure trend is calculated in the Python script, as its not part of the API. As such it takes 3 hours to calibrate – with ‘Rising’ shown initially and then changing to the current trend after 3 hours of data has been downloaded.

3D printed model

The main barometer markers – ie STORM, FAIR, CHANGE, as well as the numbers – 950, 960 etc are provided as separate .stl files to 3D print. This is to allow easy alignment with the Neopixel strip with the correct pixel.

The conditions come in a single section, again to be aligned once the Neopixel strip is mounted, the Trend titles are also provided. We also provide the end caps for the Acrylic Tube (optional, see below).

Wood

The Neopixel strip is can be mounted either onto a thin strip of wood approx 125 centimetres long by 4.5 cm wide using the fixings that come with the Neopixel Strip, or with a wider block. The Text/Numbers are 3D printed and glued on the wood. It is a standard wood strip that most DIY/Hardware stores stock. The use of wood/mounting is to allow flexibility – ie mount it however you like.

As an update to this post (June 22nd, 2022) we now include mounting ‘Feet’ for a table top horizontal display – as illustrated below, angled at 30 degrees to provide a clear viewing angle of the air pressue.

Digital Barometer Angled Stand

Acrylic Tube

For this updated version we adapted the model to allow the additional use of an 1m x 28mm Acrylic Tube, widely available it allows the LED strip to be mounted into the tube (we used a piece of conduit to straighten the led strip). This give the barometer a more ‘finished look’ and provides more of a nod towards the mercury barometers of old.

Hardware

The hardware has been selected to be as low cost as possible –

  • A Raspberry Pi – We used the Raspberry Pi Zero W
  • 1 Meter 144 Addressable Neopixel Strip (NeoPixel/WS2812/SK6812 compatible) – Example here from The PiHut

It is made to be mounted either vertically or horizontally – the 3D model above details the make (click and drag to examine the model/zoom in). The tabletop version with 30-degree angled legs can now be viewed directly on Sketchfab.

Code and library

The full code/3d printing files etc are provided on the Github page, which also includes the other Open Gauges to 3D print and make.

Libraries used

  • requests
  • json
  • time
  • neopixel
  • board

Digital model

The model is also provided in Fusion 360 for any edits to wording, sizing etc (note the Pi is not included due to separate licensing).

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