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augmented reality on Google Street View
augmented reality on Google Street View
Google is rolling out some augmented reality features intended to assist pedestrians in Street View.
The feature overlays a live video feed on the map. Directional arrows and street names appear on the video feed to provide more intuitive navigation and give the user a sense of exactly where they are and where they need to go.
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Oslo has removed onstreet parking
Oslo has removed onstreet parking
Oslo has apparently removed all or most onstreet parking.
“Cities, like Oslo, have been built for cars for several decades, and it’s about time we change it,” Hanne Marcussen, Oslo’s vice mayor of urban development, said in an email. “I think it is important that we all think about what kind of cities we want to live in. I am certain that when people imagine their ideal city, it would not be…
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Division Street, New York
This public plaza at the bottom of Division Street at the intersection with Canal Street is part of the NYC Department of Transportation’s strategy to create new public spaces by reclaiming underused road spaces.
Relying chiefly on Community partnerships, the Department of Transportation offers several such strategies to increase pedestrian infrastructure on New York streets.
Check out the NYC Plaza Program
10 best cities for giving drivers a hard time
I'm disappointed that Philadelphia couldn't crack this top ten list of the worst cities for driving. We should try to make it. It's a real shame that "Weaving though trolleys, cab drivers, pedestrians and cyclists can be difficult and dangerous." Yes, being in a one-ton steel bubble when you are "weaving" at high speed within inches of soft, flesh and blood human bodies can be quite dangerous. Anyway, maybe I am just failing to take a joke and this was meant as a tongue-in-cheek post. I hope so.
There's also this from Inga Saffron:
pedestrian fatalities in Philadelphia still account for a far higher proportion of traffic deaths than they do elsewhere in the United States: 32 percent here vs. 14 percent nationally. Philadelphia has the highest number of pedestrian fatalities of any county in Pennsylvania, and the total rose by three in 2013, to 37, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The most gruesome was the death of Samara Banks and her three children, mowed down by a speeding motorist as they hurried across 300-foot-wide Roosevelt Boulevard.
Well, that's horrible. Philadelphia can get a lot better at improving pedestrian conditions. In the short term I have a really simple proposal - make the police walk. Put some of them in bright orange or yellow uniforms stamped "PEDESTRIAN" and just have them walk around the city ticketing every car that blocks a cross-walk, runs a red light, makes an illegal turn, or otherwise blocks and endangers pedestrians. In fact, why not hire some blind, deaf, and disabled people for this if they are willing? I think this would get the point across. If the police refuse to do this, some non-profit group could do it and issue pretend educational tickets. It would still get the point across.
Longer term, we need to rebuild our streets so they are safe for all users, and not blame any of those users for making them unsafe, not even drivers. We need to copy the perfect Dutch designs. We need to do it now. There is no excuse for any more children to die when we know exactly what to do.
I do have to make one point though, and Inga Saffron should know better. Philadelphia is a great and reasonably safe city for walking. People walk here, and the irony is there are going to be more pedestrian deaths and injuries here than in cities where walking is so unsafe it is completely unthinkable and there is no walking culture. What's next, a shocking expose warning sick people to avoid hospitals because the data show that a lot of people die in them? Shame.
More Murder Machines
another interesting paragraph from Murder Machines, the article I posted yesterday:
Though anti-drunk-driving campaigns are familiar to Americans, fatalities involving alcohol only account for around a third of all collisions, while the rest are caused by ordinary human error. Studies also show that reckless drivers who are sober are rarely cited by police, even when they are clearly at fault. In New York City during the last five years, less than one percent of drivers who killed or injured pedestrians and cyclists were ticketed for careless driving. (In most states, “negligent” driving, which includes drunk driving, has different legal consequences than “reckless” driving, though the jargon makes little difference to those hurt by such drivers.)
I've been thinking about this for awhile, but I wasn't sure it was okay to say it out loud. If you hit a pedestrian while driving sober, is that better or worse than if you were drunk? I think the answer has to be neither. Don't get me wrong. I'm against drinking and driving. Well, mostly I'm against driving. You've heard of safe routes to school? How about safe routes home from the bar? If everyone can walk home from the bar safely, this will not only eliminate the problem of pedestrians at risk of being hit by drunk drivers, it will eliminate the problem of drunk drivers at risk of hitting pedestrians. Problem solved.
Los Angeles Sidewalks
This article is about Los Angeles trying to develop a plan to fix its sidewalks. It sounds like LA is similar to where I live - sidewalks are technically private property, and the responsibility of homeowners, but in the public right-of-way. They are impacted by street trees. So some people want to get rid of the trees. But we shouldn't have to choose - we want and deserve walkable, green, wheelchair and stroller-accessible streets. Some city officials just want to make homeowners pay for everything, and of course homeowners want the city to pay for as much as possible, which is only natural.
The article proposes a new agency with a new plan that shares the burden between public and private sources. This makes sense, but I see one thing missing, and that is trying to integrate street improvements with other public works. Any time a contractor is out ripping up pavement for one reason or another, that is the easiest and cheapest time to add on some sidewalk work, repair sewer laterals, or plant trees. It's hard to coordinate though, so it has to be somebody's full-time job to track all the work going on and have the design standards and funding sources figured out and make it happen.
San Francisco's "Vision Zero"
San Francisco has a "vision zero" for no pedestrian deaths. This is great - the first step to progress is to have a vision and refuse to be cynical.
NYCEDC is seeking designers to reimagine the Park Avenue/125th Street gateway to Harlem.
The project aims to make the streets around the station cleaner, safer, and easier to navigate; beautify the streetscape and public spaces around the Station and provide amenities for pedestrians.
Learn more about the project at our info session next Friday, March 21 at 2 pm. Those who wish to attend should RSVP by email to [email protected] by 5:00 pm on March 20, 2014.
Questions regarding the subject matter of this RFP should be directed to [email protected] by 5:00 pm on March 24, 2014.
Make your mark on a Harlem landmark. Download the RFP here. RFP responses are due by 4:00 pm on Friday. April 4th.
