SenseCityVity

SenseCityVity is a collaborative project between Idiap Research Institute (PI: Daniel Gatica-Perez) and the Instituto Potosino de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica (IPICYT), supported by EPFL's Cooperation and Development Center (CODEV). Our goal is to engage citizens as factors of social change, through the use of mobile tech tools to improve the understanding of socio-urban problems in communities and cities.

In its first year, the project included three stages. First, teams of young students from CECYTEG (Center of Scientific and Technological Studies, a science and technology high school in Guanajuato City) collected and annotated multimedia urban data to document socio-urban problems collectively defined as relevant. Over 6000 geo-referenced images were produced through these experiences.

In the second stage, the collected data began to be analyzed by computer scientists in Switzerland and Mexico, using machine learning techniques to understand in principled ways how young observers perceive certain dimensions of their urban environment like security or cleanness. A heat and cluster maps on the left show the locations where pictures were collected.

Finally, students created mini-documentaries, which allowed for reflection and creation of proposals of solutions; these were presented in a local festival, organized to share the work and proposals of SenseCityVity's young participants. Please visit our YouTube channel for more project's videos. SenseCityVity is featured in CODEV's 2015 Annual Report. Please visite Idiap's website and our community Facebook page to know more about our project.

In the second year, SenseCityVity project significantly expanded its participatory approach to study multiple cities (León, Silao, Irapuato) and more diverse populations taking part in mobile experiences. We worked with multigenerational teams of participants (young adults and elders), each of whom contributed a more diverse view of urban concerns. SenseCityVity+ is featured in CODEV's 2016 Annual Report.

Collected data include 13,000 geolocalized photos. A heat map of the geolocalized images is shown on the top left. Collected data also include 127 interviews and 85 short videos showing the urban dynamics of the city. To date, SenseCityVity activities are framed in the context of the Urbis project, supported by Mexico's national research agency. We continue to expand our work to several communities in Mexico in collaboration with other academics and organizations.

The heat map on the top shows the places in Guanajuato City where urban issues were detected during the data collection process. The map on the bottom shows how volunteer teams moved accross the city during data collection. Please visite Idiap's website and our community Facebook page to know more about our project.