This update is in three parts: ‘our approach’; ‘the hardware’; and ’sensing’. This entry is continued from ‘the hardware’.
It turns out few people have Bluetooth turned on and visible by default. When my colleague at Arup Jason McDermott helped create an urban sensing installation in central Sydney (Smart Light Fields) they observed around 8% of [...]
Archive for the ‘Systems & Tools’ Category
Sensing the city, update three: sensing
Sensing the city, update two: the hardware
This update is in three parts: ‘our approach’; ‘the hardware’; and ’sensing’. This entry is continued from ‘our approach’.
CRIN have explored some simple hardware platforms, particularly the Gumstix and Beagleboard ’sawn-off’ PCs (strictly, ‘computers-on-module’). Below, a few shots from a recent session discussing the hardware. Be warned, this will get a little geeky.
Note the core [...]
Sensing the city, update one: our approach
This update is in three parts: ‘our approach’; ‘the hardware’; and ’sensing’.
A quick technical update on our mobile phone sensing project with UTS (see earlier post for context). This project is exploring technical approaches to sensing the presence of mobile phones in transit environments (bus, train, ferry etc.) as well as pedestrians, in order to [...]
DesignLink SDK open for collaboration
The DesignLink Software Development toolKit (SDK) is now open via a collaboration agreement
Tweeting
We have started tweeting. The link above is a word cloud generated from the bios of our followers. Follow us @ arupaustralasia
Visual Reports
Late last year, a colleague in Melbourne asked if I knew of a way to animate a Sankey diagram. A Sankey what? thought I
Meta-tooling
The DesignLink SDK can be used to build tools to solve interoperability problems as well as custom tools to use in the design process
MassMotion
MassMotion is software that we use to predict human behaviour within virtual built environments
GSA fly-by-wire
One of the most useful tools Juan Maier has recently developed is a strength based optimisation program that links with Arup’s in-house structural analysis software GSA through its API (COM interface).
Mobile phone tracking in urban environments
This project explores the use of mobile phone data as a way of sensing patterns of movement across Sydney’s transport networks, including feasible platforms for this kind of data collection, and ethical issues.
What we're doing
- The longest bridge in the world gets the go ahead. 38km between Hong Kong and Macau http://bit.ly/5CXExN 2009-12-17
- architectureguardian.co.uk - Reviews the decade for the world of architecture: http://bit.ly/7xOaUM 2009-12-08
- RT @ArupGroup: Arup is at COP15. And blogging. Join in at http://bit.ly/552Caa. #ArupCOP15 2009-12-07
- RT @inengineering: WSP Lincolne Scott, Brookfield Multiplex and ARUP, win national Australian Engineering Excelle.. http://bit.ly/92L28G 2009-12-07
- More updates...
What we're reading
- Jamie Oliver urges Sydney to make nourishing meals [SMH]
- Five Ways to Change the World : Places [Design Observer]
- Climate snapshot reveals things are heating up [SMH]
- Australia placed on censorship watch list [ZDNet Australia]
- Utilities fear SmartGrid technology not up to scratch [MIS]
- Céleste Boursier-Mougenot New commission for The Curve
- National Planning for the Next Century [Planetizen]


