The Weeks Media Update

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A quick post with info on how the work of CASA (home of digital urban) has been used and featured in the media this week:

CNN USA and The Discovery Channel both made use of Tweet-o-Meter to demonstrate the use of social media after the earthquake in Japan, including an interview with Steven Gray:

http://www.discoverychannel.ca/Article.aspx?aid=31124 we of course wish the work used in happier circumstances.

Ollie's Cycle Network Map in Wired is now online at:

http://www.wired.co.uk/magazine/archive/2011/04/start/bike-routes-for-a-city-with-no-tube

Tales of Things was featured on ABC Australia, looking into Mass urbanisation: why do we flock together?

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/futuretense/stories/2011/3153206.htm#transcript

It was described as a mix of Facebook, The Antiques Roadshow and eBay.

QRator (our QRCode Museum interactive signage work in association with The Centre for Digital Humanities) featured on the New Scientist site:

http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/culturelab/2011/03/a-new-lease-of-life-for-extinct-animals.html

Finally, QRator can also been seen on BBC Science with a nice video showing QRator in action:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12711455

To keep up to speed with the latest research, you can follow us on Twitter.

Radio 4 Click On Interview - 16.30 Today and Online

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Last week we went up to Broadcasting House in London and met the nice people behind the Radio 4 show 'Click On'.

The show explores the latest developments in from the world of information technology, and how these affect our lives. We were interviewed about the latest project TalesofThings, where you can tag anything and everything and leave your memories attached to objects.

As part of the tagging architecture side of the work we officially 'tagged' broadcasting house. The TalesofThings qrcode is now in the lobby, pictured left is the Click On presenter Simon Cox. Using our free iPhone app you can record your memories of the building.

Indeed, you can tag anything - TalesofThings provides a free, quick and easy way to link any media to any object via small printable tags known as qr codes or rfid labels. How about tagging your old antique clock, a building, or perhaps that object you're about to put on eBay. Last week we placed a tag on a wall in Camden Town, London which brings a long lost Banksy back to life, the tag can be scanned and new memories attached to it. Its an easy way to create a new type of network in the city.

Click On is broadcast Mondays at 4.30pm on Radio 4 with the podcast available shortly after.

Find out more at http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/clickon

New Scientist and Beyond the Beyond - TalesofThings

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New Scientist have a good write up this week on our new project - TalesofThings its also been picked up by Bruce Stirling over at Beyond Beyond on Wired and to be honest we are blown away.

News in, the iPhone app has been accepted so with a few more tweaks and plugging in of wires we will be ready to go beta end of the week.

We also have some neat gadget hacks including an iPhone/Android RFID reader on the cards which we plan to put onto MAKE or such like so you can build your own kit.

News as ever will be here on digital urban and via the TalesofThings Twitter Feed.

We will get back to the more general posts btw, soon as we get chance, and news on that MRes in Advanced Spatial Analysis and Visualisation which we direct, next week.

Update - the MRes details are now online along with application and entry.

Social Mapping - 'On the Map' Radio 4

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A few weeks ago we did an interview with Mike Parker for Radio 4, entitled 'Social Mapping' you can listen to it on Thursday March 25th, 15:45 via BBC Radio 4.

Self-confessed map addict Mike Parker explores modern cartography.

There's no more effective way of representing our lives than a map: social and political conditions, health trends and the movements of goods and ideas have far greater impact when they're plotted in multicoloured cartography. Mike asks how society is now being analysed online in cartographic mash-ups and crowd-sourced data. He also discovers how mapping the human condition, its needs and habits, its highs and its lows, goes back to way before the digital age.


Thursday March 25th, 15:45, BBC Radio 4.

Radio 5 Live - Pod and Blogs on the Urban Tweet-o-Meter

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Pods and Blogs is Radio 5 live's programme dedicated to covering the news as seen by bloggers, podcasters and the citizen media. It is broadcast on Tuesdays at 0300 in Up All Night. Today's episode included an interview about our Urban Tweet-o-Meter by Steven Gray, here at CASA. If you dont have access to Radio 5 then you can listen to it in their weekly podcast which should be online tomorrow via the Pods and Blogs main page. (edit - it was online early this morning and can now be listened to via the pods and blogs link...)

Next month there is an interview on BBC Radio 4 with us regarding our mapping work, as part of On the Map a series of 10 15-minute programs running Monday to Friday at 3:45 PM, beginning on March 23. We will have more details on that nearer the time...

Transmitting Architecture: Cluster Issue 07

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The current edition of Cluster has been created in collaboration with the XXIII UIA World Congress of Architecture 2008 http://www.uia2008torino.org.

The XXIII edition of the Congress was held in Torino, for the first time in an Italian city. Hence the current issue of Cluster magazine is “Transmitting Architecture”, sharing the same theme as the UIA World Congress.

It is a really nice publication and well worth picking up. It features a write up on digital urban 'a research blog that goes beyond the confines of the common':

'Digital Urban is a blog dedicated to research which is edited and almost entirely written by Dr. Andrew Hudson-Smith, as a semi-independent strand of research under CASA, the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis at University College London....Its cultural roots are a blend of archaeology, architecture, cartography, geography, planning, remote sensing and geomatic engineering: a rare mix, especially when it comes to the clarity of the research results published'

Kind words and much appreciated...

Mike Batty of CASA has an article on Generating Cities from the Bottom-Up: Using Complexity Theory for Effective Design.

See Cluster for how to get hold of a copy.

Geographical: The Real SimCity

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This months issue of Geographical includes a feature whereby Olivia Edward talks to the British urban geographers (including us) who are immersing themselves in virtual cities to gain a greater insight into the workings of our real-life conurbations.

The article is based around screenshots and interviews from ourselves as well as Mark Birkin from the University of Leeds.

We haven't had chance to get hold of a copy yet but it should be available in all good newsagents, or online.

Back to the City and Architect Magazine

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After a week away its back to the city and a return to the blog. Up and coming this week is a new section on Urban Gadgets with a look at the essential kit required to capture the urban environment. First up is the Power Monkey Explorer, a solar powered charger that will keep your Nokia N95 GPS or any other device charged while on the go. The section kicks off as soon as we have thoroughly tested out the kit.

As a side note Architect Magazine kindly features the blog in this months issue under their regular Screen Capture slot, you can read the article here, its a well written piece

As ever if there is any news you know of that you think should be featured on the blog or any tutorial you would like to see simply drop us a email.

Its good to be back..

New Scientist - Ordnance Survey and Virtual London

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Its good to see geography in the New Scientist and their write up of the Virtual London/Ordnance Survey issue raises some good points with additional views from other professionals in the industry.

Its a bit of a moment to be in New Scientist, just a shame its under circumstances of research having to take a new route rather than launching a model of London that would of changed the way people view and commented on urban planning and architecture.

See also:

The Guardian - Virtual London and the Ordnance Survey

Londonist's View

The Full Statements from Ordnance Survey and Google

Ed Parsons (Geospatial Technologist of Google) No Comment, Just Grab a Pint

Guardian Newspaper - Virtual London and the Ordnance Survey

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The Guardian - a National Newspaper in the UK - has a full page spread on the story of Ordnance Survey and the licensing of our Virtual London model.

Entitled 'Want to see a great 3D model of London online? Ordnance Survey says no' the article by Michael Cross examines the issues behind the Ordnance Surveys decision.

You can read the full article online via the Technology Guardian site.

Full details on the story can be found in our original post - Ordnance Survey and Google Statements on Virtual London.

Game Engines for Architects? Architecture for Gamers? Escapist Article

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"The ancient profession of architecture - domain of Hestia, first- and last-born of the Olympian goddesses, whose name means "the essence of things" - is today being transformed" - The Escapist has an extended article on Game Engines and Architecture with various quotes from an interview they carried out with us a few weeks ago.

Its a good read and well worth a look if you have been following the Oblivion tutorial.

BethBlog -the blog for Bethesda Softworks, makers of Oblivion - also cover the work in a post on 'Oblivion offers new opportunities for architecture'.

One Digital Model per City? - AEC Magazine Article

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There is only one London, New York, Tokyo etc yet there are many digital models of each city. London has, at last count, 6 models of varying accuracy and detail, the majority of which are created and held by architecture practices. Investment in the creation of such models can run into six figures and as such the use of highly detailed models are based on commercial licences and restrictive IP. At Digital Urban we hold the view of an open source model allowing the public free access to data and visualisation. It is after all our city and we should have the ability to visualise changes in the public domain. There are of course a number of issues with this point of view, see the recent Guardian Article for more info.

As such we think that their should be a single definitive model of London that architects contribute too and use. Data quality issues would be put in place, compared with say the Google 3D Warehouse, and the model would be held in both Professional GIS, CAD and public access KML formats. Gareth Munro, Managing Director of Designhive refreshingly holds the same view, one which is covered in an article in the March/April edition of AEC Magazine. In an extract from the article Gareth states that:

Almost certainly, whoever has the most detailed and accurate model of London has the competitive edge. The ability to create a 3D model of a building or other development and simply ‘drop it’ into an accurate model of London quickly and efficiently will inevitably win the support, backing and perhaps more importantly the business of architects and developers in the future.

He continues,

However, the creation of multiple London models may provide competitive advantage to some and an instant win for those that ‘have’, but in the long-term does little to save time and cost for architects, developers and the wider industry.

The article is focused on the Virtual London model held at our lab (see our Virtual London thread for more details ) and interestingly the whole magazine can be viewed online, free of charge and without registration in PDF format.

Read the article online or view the magazine in PDF.

So should there be one model? How do other cities deal with digital models and getting architects to contribute with a view of online distribution? Answers on a postcard, via email or in our comments thread below.

BBC London Virtual London Coverage

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BBC London broadcast a piece on Virtual London last night, you can view it up until lunchtime (when its replaced with the latest version) via their website.

If you missed the live version of Radio 4's Law in Action, which again contains a section on Virtual London and mapping data, you can listen again via the Radio 4 page.

Coverage..

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Radio 4 popped in to talk about the Virtual London model, they talked mainly to the boss 'Professor Mike Batty' - we will be writing about his latest book 'Cities and Complexity' later in the week. The programme 'Law In Action' will be broadcast Tuesday March 20th 16.00GMT. If you hear any beeping noises in the background that's me trying to make the model sound technical, oh the glamour.

If your in Germany you can view Virtual London in more detail, i get to speak this time - Hitec - a technology show via .zdf, see the website for broadcast times and details.

GIS Professional - Virtual London Revisited

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In this months issue of GIS Professional Magazine we explore the challenges and issues behind modelling London in both its construction, use and distribution in terms of virtual city models.

The issue (number 14) is interesting as it also covers articles on the development of virtual Los Angeles, Hamburg, Zurich and Salzburg. There are many solutions to the problem of creating digital cities, central to them all though is the need to tag information geographically to the 3d buildings. For this you need a GIS system, only then can the model be of direct use above and beyond the traditional CAD usage.

You can get a copy of GIS Professional by following the link above.

3D World Magazine - Issue 88

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The latest issue of 3D World Magazine features an article on our both our and GMJ's Virtual London models. It is interesting to view the models side by side due to the differences in their construction and ultimately in their use.

The issue also has a rather neat tutorial on creating cityscape's in Bryce 5, along with a copy of the software on the disc so its well worth a look. Issue 88 of 3D World is available in all your favorite newsagents or via the web link above.

Model Blog Web 2.0 (?) and Up and Coming Posts

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This months PC Pro magazine has kindly listed digitalurban as one of five model blogs for Web 2.0. In an interesting feature they run through setting up a blog and increasing your readership, something where we seem to flounder on slightly. While its nice to be highlighted as a model blog we cant help wondering where all the readers are, if your one then your one of elite few. Looking across the pond - Frank Taylors excellent GEarth Blog has just celebrated 8,000,000 page views in the last year.. now we are way way below that yet our content, although not dedicated to Google Earth is kind of similar although admittedly more niche. So thanks to PCPRO for their recommendations, we are off to read the 'how to increase your readers' section to see if there is anything we have missed. If you are a reader then tell a friend and a friends friend!

In the meantime its a dull rainy day in London so we are about to sit down with a coffee and write a tutorial on how to create free reverse movies from Google Earth. Why would you want to reverse a movie (?) - to create a smooth perfect zoom in to your favourite location from earth, just like the movies on Discovery or the BBC, the post will be online later today.

As a update to the Google Earth Panorama Viewer.. it should be released, again with a tutorial, later this week.

*Edit 18.43/6th Jan 2007*

Well the coffee was good and the tutorial on creating movies in Google Earth is now online. Been thinking about the Web 2.0 article and how this blog is mentioned as a model for blogging yet has a low number of readers. From reading around the subject it seems that 'diggs' and 'reddits' are good for traffic, each post has a 'digg this' or 'reddit' etc link under it so if you do read something you like give us a reddit :)

Any thoughts hints or tips?

Why is Virtual London not publicly available in Google Earth?

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Its a good question and the Guardian Newspaper tackles the issue today in its technology supplement. In an article entitled 'Copyright sinks Virtual Planning' Michael Cross explores the development of the Virtual London model and the issues involved in making it publicly available online.






You can read the article via Guardian Unlimited and if your interested in the issues involved see the blog of the Free Data Campaign.

Interesting times are ahead for the Ordnance Survey, we couldn't of made the model without them and for the time being we cant use it publicly with them..
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Digital Urban in Edge

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Being published in Academic Journals/Books etc is all very nice but we were genuinely overjoyed this week while reading EDGE on the tube to find a small write up of our Oblivion game engine work in their 'Out There' section.

You can buy issue 169 in all good newsagents, its in a card wrapper featuring Nintendos up and coming console Wii.

At the moment the lack of posts is due to on going work with Newham council. With limited data its an interesting project to build accurate models direct from ground based imagery which are not suitable for applications such as Photomodeller - images and movies of the church in Stratford High Street will follow shortly and its working a treat in Oblivion.....