All Things Tucson, Tech and Transport

Much has occurred in the past couple weeks since my previous post.


1. Cyclovia Tucson 2011. The event was amazing and everything operated very well. The estimated turn out was 10,000 people. I worked at an information booth on 4th Ave. and 30th St.

I do not frequently spend time in South Tucson so it was a great experience. I ate fresh tortillas, practiced speaking Spanish, listened to the blues band playing yards away from our booth and assisted people trying to navigate the 5 mile event route. Jorge, another bike ambassador, helped me staff the booth. We provided water, maps and advice to every spectrum of biker, older advanced riders to young enthusiastic beginners. I also rode the length of the route a couple of times.
I had a great time and I can not wait until the next one. For more Cyclovia Tucson 2011 coverage, visit Tucson Velo.

2. I have been working on another project for my GEOG416: Geovisualization class. For one of our assigned labs, my group and I decided we wanted to create a Google based geovisualization of various bike infrastructure within Tucson. Our focus was bike facilities in and around the University of Arizona. To collect data, we rode around the various pieces of bike infrastructure. We captured locations using photos and video. After the data collection was complete, we integrated the pictures and videos onto routes we had drawn on Google Maps. Here is the final product:


View UA Campus Bicycle Geovisualization in a larger map

As you can see, we have included a large quantity of data. However, if you zoom in on the map, the data quantity is less overwhelming. In the future, this geovisualization may be posted on Tucson Velo. I will report on this if it occurs.

3. At the request of Tucson BikeFest 2011 coordinators, I have designed a Google MyMap mashup to highlight events for the upcoming Bike to Work week, April 4 - 8.

View Tucson BikeFest: April 4th - 8th, 2011 in a larger map
As you can see, it is a relatively simple map with businesses listed and geolocated using various colored place marks. It is now live on the Bike to Work website and it was a fun project to work on. It also allowed me to discover which businesses are providing discounts and free stuff for the upcoming Bike to Work week.


4. I have joined a local non-profit startup called Open Tucson. The primary focus of this group is

to promote web and mobile technologies to foster civic participation through apps that facilitate communication between citizens and government, between citizens themselves, and that generally improve the quality of life in our community.

At my first meeting on Tuesday, we discussed a wide variety of topics including government and public policy, how to integrate technology with the government, local vs. state level data, transit data and much more. We are currently working on a project that includes live real time bus tracking data, QR codes, and bus stops. I will write more about this project once it is underway.

That is a brief summary of the projects I am either currently working on have recently completed. As always, i am working with the Living Streets Alliance on a variety of items. We will be having a meeting again soon. My search for a summer job or internship continues. However, the process continues to be fun, educational and exciting. I will be posting again soon with more information and ideas as they arise.

Please comment or email me with any questions or comments.

Thanks for reading!