Comparing Traditional Maps with Twitter-Derived Maps: Exploring Differences and Similarities

The paper describes the use of quantitative data obtained from the social medium Twitter to analyse urban patterns. A case study in the urban neighbourhood of Pampulha, Belo Horizonte, Brazil, is described to show the outcomes of a comparative analysis with traditional data used in the urban and transport planning processes of the city. The maps derived from the elaboration of Twitter data are overlapped to traditional maps providing evidence of similarities and differences. The paper illustrates the outcomes of this overlapping and discusses the possibilities given by the use of freely and quickly available data instead of costly but official data

GISualisation: a tool for visually supporting planning processes

The evaluation of quality of life in cities can be supported by the analysis of data coming from different sources and describing different aspects such as economic, social, environmental, energy, housing or mobility issues. Nevertheless, the analysis of such big amounts of data is difficult so that only expert technicians can access to their inner contents. Furthermore, the outcomes of these analyses are often presented in static outcomes which reproduce the reasoning of technicians who have not expertise in urban studies. Thus, planners and decision-makers have to base their own choices on given outcomes without opportunities for personally investigating the inner contents of data. In order to facilitate the data exploration and readability by non-technicians, a GIS-based visualization tool, namely “GISualisation”, has been realized to give to both planners and actors involved in planning processes, a decision support system useful to visualize the inter-relations between data which describe cities. The tool is a web-based interactive visual tool, which works on geo-referenced dynamic maps, currently created with free Web GIS applications. GISualisation displays data on a map and offers the possibility to select and filter data by single attributes, allowing users to interact readily with large databases and customise the visualisation of information. Thus, the tool offers a simple interface to visualise GIS data on the basis of users’ requests, providing a support for planners and decision-makers to explore data and detect issues of inefficiency, ineffectiveness or critical areas which needs further reasoning on their planning or design. Furthermore, it can be used in collaborative and participatory session so to improve the information sharing among participants. Depending on the case study, the tool can be adapted and customized to visualise different type of data, ensuring user-friendliness and possibility to explore the relationships between data. GISualisation has already been applied in investigating inefficiencies in a public transport system (Pensa, Masala, Arnone, & Rosa, 2013), in studying pedestrian paths in an urban area, in analysing urban population health and in the evaluation of social housing projects. Further developments will include the integration with the interactive Visualisation Tool (InViTo) (Pensa, Masala, & Lami, 2013; Pensa & Masala, 2014) and the possibility to include real-time data feeds. Through GISualisation, data on quality of life can be investigated and visually analysed so to offer a new tool to actors involved in planning process for detecting critical areas and improving the urban planning process

Detecting spatial features from data-maps: The visual intersection of data as support to decision-making

The assessment of spatial systems can be supported by the analysis of data coming from different sources and describing different aspects such as economic, social, environmental, energy, housing or mobility issues. Nevertheless, the analysis of such a large amount of data is difficult. In order to improve the readability of data also with non-technicians, new methods of communication are needed, which could facilitate the sharing of information among people with different skills and backgrounds. In this context, the paper shows the developments in geo-visualisation to support and improve the processes of planning and decision-making. First, the use of a map-based visualisation is suitable for intuitively understanding the location and distribution of specific elements. Second, the graphic interface can be used to drive users in the investigation of data. It can provide a linear method that is more comprehensive to the human mind in dealing with the complexity of spatial systems. In addition, the possibility to select and filter data by single attributes allows databases to be explored interactively and read by differently skilled users. The intersection and overlapping of information enables users to discover the relationships between data, the inefficiencies and critical areas, thus providing suggestions for further reasoning in planning and decision-making. Furthermore, collaborative and participatory sessions require quick answers and simple readability. Thus, the real time response to simple queries widens the opportunities for improving the discussion. A case study describes the methodology used for sharing the data collected during an Interreg IVB NWE Project named “CoDe24” (INTERREG IVB NWE, 2005; ERDF European Territorial Cooperation 2007-2013, 2010). By the use of a web-GIS visualisation tool, namely GISualisation, the project partnership was allowed to explore the data concerning the railways and train typologies along the Genoa-Rotterdam corridor. Despite the high factor of usability of the tool, it was not employed much by participants to the project so that further reasoning is needed to evaluate how digital tools are perceived by professionals

The effects of decision-making on urban form: a tool for supporting planning processes

In wide area planning, collaboration and participation are nowadays a common approach to the creation of a land or urban design. Thus, planning involves different kinds of professionals, usually coming from different disciplines and, in particular, speaking different languages. GIS technologies are generally used as support to investigate planning and decision making questions, but knowledge process is often limited by the lack of users’ ability in reading output data. Thus, the improvement of information sharing among many users is one of main tasks of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). This is commonly achieved through the use of visual tools which allow users to understand data through intuitive perception. For this reason, the ongoing research described in this paper is investigating a modelling system to combine visual tools with GIS technologies, in order to create a shared common language which could be able to really support wide area Planning processes.Peer Reviewe

Visualisation as a Model. Overview on Communication Techniques in Transport and Urban Planning

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) changed the way planners present and operate with their projects. New visualisation tools have changed the ways projects and plans are presented and disseminated. However, the opportunities given by visualisation are not completely exploited in the professional practice. This is due to several bottlenecks which occur in the daily carrying out of activities. The paper is organised in three sections. The first one explains how visualisation can be an added value to the planning practice if it is organised and designed as a framework of information; conceiving the visualisation as a model, data can be managed and represented in order to provide information at different levels of expertise, allowing city plans to be analysed and understood before their realisation. The second section resumes the changes caused by the introduction of ICT within the daily practice; a comparison between pre-digital and digital approaches highlights current opportunities for implementing the communication values of plans and projects. The third part illustrates some examples of innovative visualisations in the urban and transport planning practice, showing a number of uses of visualisation to fit different purposes. The paper concludes this insight formulating the necessity for integrating the studies on visualisation coming from different disciplines into a scientific method that can be proposed as a guideline in building the images of urban and transport plans. This would be particularly useful for obtaining a more scientific approach in the choices of representation and visualisation of urban aspects

Reviewing Efficiency and Effectiveness of Interurban Public Transport Services: A Practical Experience

This paper describes the methodology and the analysis tool developed for a study, carried out in 2012, aimed at the reorganisation of the interurban public transport services of the Piedmont region of Italy. Reorganization was necessary as a result of the reduction in funds allocated to public transport. We needed to work on a large dataset spanning different types of data, such as service provision, ridership, economic data, and geographical information. The size of the task warranted the effort to merge all those data into a single database and develop an analysis tool on purpose. Therefore we custom built a web-based visual analysis tool, using free web applications, including geo-referenced dynamic maps and allowing users to visualise and interact readily with the information in the database. This web GIS application was used to characterise public transport lines on the basis of combinations of indicators of interest (such as ridership, number of services and km produced by time unit), or on the basis of their characteristics (such as route overlaps, reference public administration, type of services, e.g. daily, for schoolchildren, market day only). Tables, charts and maps obtained from the web GIS were employed to compare the information we had with a set of criteria and identify instances of inefficiency or ineffectiveness of interurban public transport services

INTERACTIVE VISUALIZATION TOOL (INVITO): A WEB VISUAL TOOL FOR SHARING INFORMATION IN TERRITORIAL DECISION-MAKING PROCESSES

Territorial planning is the focus of considerable debates, which often develop into uncertain and vulnerable decision contexts. Numbers and quantitative information in fact often dominate the process of decision-making but they are not easily comprehensible through quick and simple reasoning. Nonetheless, the huge quantities of data that describe our cities and regions could provide excellent bases to analyze spatial data in order to assess territories and simulate future development scenarios. The application of innovative digital tools in the analysis of urban issues offers new advantages and opportunities for the improvement of communication values in policies and decision-making processes, concurring to overcome conventional approaches to territorial management. The paper describes the application of the Interactive Visualization Tool (InViTo), a web tool based on maps and visual analysis allowing data to be filtered, explored, interconnected and compared on a visual interface. Data visualization, intended as the way to see the unseen (McCormick et al., 1987), is here used as a new paradigm to highlight the positive and negative effects on spatial systems considering the impacts of choice-alternatives along multiple dimensions. The correlation between information and their localization generates an essential instrument for the knowledge of urban dynamics and resilience in answering to specific policies. The investigation of a number of case studies shows the possibilities and opportunities given by the use of InViTo in creating a shared knowledge between actors involved in decision-making processes and in offering a challenge for integrating new perspectives on the analysis of future cities and regions

INTERACTIVE VISUALIZATION TOOL (INVITO): A WEB VISUAL TOOL FOR SHARING INFORMATION IN TERRITORIAL DECISION-MAKING PROCESSES

Territorial planning is the focus of considerable debates, which often develop into uncertain and vulnerable decision contexts. Numbers and quantitative information in fact often dominate the process of decision-making but they are not easily comprehensible through quick and simple reasoning. Nonetheless, the huge quantities of data that describe our cities and regions could provide excellent bases to analyze spatial data in order to assess territories and simulate future development scenarios. The application of innovative digital tools in the analysis of urban issues offers new advantages and opportunities for the improvement of communication values in policies and decision-making processes, concurring to overcome conventional approaches to territorial management. The paper describes the application of the Interactive Visualization Tool (InViTo), a web tool based on maps and visual analysis allowing data to be filtered, explored, interconnected and compared on a visual interface. Data visualization, intended as the way to see the unseen (McCormick et al., 1987), is here used as a new paradigm to highlight the positive and negative effects on spatial systems considering the impacts of choice-alternatives along multiple dimensions. The correlation between information and their localization generates an essential instrument for the knowledge of urban dynamics and resilience in answering to specific policies. The investigation of a number of case studies shows the possibilities and opportunities given by the use of InViTo in creating a shared knowledge between actors involved in decision-making processes and in offering a challenge for integrating new perspectives on the analysis of future cities and regions

Visualising accessibility: an interactive tool and two applications to empirical case studies of urban development and public engagement

While a substantial body of literature exists on the theoretical definitions and measures of accessibility, the extent to which such measures are applied into practice to assess project alternatives is less frequent (Geurs and Van Wee, 2004). Recent studies affirm that one of the main barriers to the usability of accessibility measure is the lack of visualisation quality and mapping tool for accessibility representation (te Brömmelstroet et al, 2014), while visualisation tools are commonly recognised as the most effective methodology to facilitate knowledge sharing, particularly in those processes involving public stakeholders and non-experts with different expertise. Starting form this consideration, this paper presents an application of the Interactive Visualisation Tool, named InViTo (Pensa and Masala, 2014a; 2014b; Pensa, et al., 2014; Pensa, Masala and Lami, 2013; Pensa, Masala and Marina, 2013) able to generate maps of the level of perceived accessibility (i.e. “desirability”) of different urban areas. Desirability is here computed as the perceived level of access to different urban items as transport supply (metro and rail stations, public transport stops, parking) and urban activities such as hospitals, schools, museums. In this respect, the concept of desirability encompasses a measure of accessibility to several urban facilities, and the perception that residents of the study area have of such facilities. The InViTo tool allows to build up maps of desirability interactively, by making selection of the chosen items and by giving differential weights to each items. This makes the tools powerful and very useful particularly when discussing and showing analysis results to stakeholders, who could have the opportunity to see in real time the results of different scenario alternatives and assumptions. © AET 2014 and contributors 2 In the paper two applications are presented. The first one to the empirical case study of Rome, presents the steps to undertake in order to apply the tool: from data gathering, maps coding, and results representation. The second application aims at exploring the potential usability of the tool in engaging public stakeholders into the assessment of different urban development options. Furthermore, the results of a workshop held in Turin, in which public and private stakeholders were interactively involved, are discussed. The paper is organised as follows. In section 2, an overview of the InViTo tool is given with a focus on its applicability formeasuring accessibility. In section 3 the results of the two InViTo applications are discussed. Conclusions are drawn in section 4, with an outlook to undergoing research issues