Understanding the specific qualities of dynamic factors that shape how urban environments work is important to analyzing these environments effectively. Prominent among these factors is the movement of people and the patterns or trends that emerge from that movement over time.
In order to better study movement as a dynamic factor in how urban spaces work, an academic project titled Sen-Sys was designed and implemented to a limited degree over the course of a semester to produce a movement-based digital model in which the proportions of a city map and related visual elements are dynamically distorted to reflect areas of high and low occupation, the moment-to-moment spatial behavior of occupants, and recurring trends in occupant movement over time.
Occupant behavior was tracked using volunteers’ smartphone GPS, which was continuously uploaded to Geonecta, an open platform for hosting geojson data. That information was then downloaded and incorporated into the model.