A Smartphone-Based System for Outdoor Data Gathering Using a Wireless Beacon Network and GPS Data: From Cyber Spaces to Senseable Spaces

Abstract

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and mobile devices are deeply influencing all facets of life, directly affecting the way people experience space and time. ICTs are also tools for supporting urban development, and they have also been adopted as equipment for furnishing public spaces. Hence, ICTs have created a new paradigm of hybrid space that can be defined as Senseable Spaces. Even if there are relevant cases where the adoption of ICT has made the use of public open spaces more "smart", the interrelation and the recognition of added value need to be further developed. This is one of the motivations for the research presented in this paper. The main goal of the work reported here is the deployment of a system composed of three different connected elements (a real-world infrastructure, a data gathering system, and a data processing and analysis platform) for analysis of human behavior in the open space of Cardeto Park, in Ancona, Italy. For this purpose, and because of the complexity of this task, several actions have been carried out: the deployment of a complete real-world infrastructure in Cardeto Park, the implementation of an ad-hoc smartphone application for the gathering of participants' data, and the development of a data pre-processing and analysis system for dealing with all the gathered data. A detailed description of these three aspects and the way in which they are connected to create a unique system is the main focus of this paper. recognition of an added value need to be further developed. This is one of the main motivations for the research presented here.Digital services provided for experiencing a POS are now mainly employed through the use of map or web-based applications, which force users to search for their preferred path or location. Furthermore, the space is not smart enough to collect the information from users, apart from the main Big Data Players, such as Google, which do not provide public access to these data. Hence, a space that can sense users' presence and provide according information is still broadly missing.In line with this, the adoption of ICTs provides users with new instruments to enhance their experience of visiting and discovering a place; at the same time, they represent a valuable source of information that could be used for the planning process. This research addresses the topic of exploring the relationship between space, users, and technologies, investigating how pervasive digital tools can augment our environments and can leverage new interactivity. Modern technological applications can dynamically deliver different kinds of data to the users, but they also allow for the extraction of data from them. Thus, we have coined the term Senseable Space to define these kinds of spaces capable of providing users with contextual services, to measure and analyze their dynamics, and to react accordingly, in a seamless exchange of information. This new paradigm of hybridized space is, in part, inspired by the work of the Senseable City Lab at the MIT of Boston (h...

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