A comprehensive intelligence tool for all stakeholders in the built environment
The CityChange platform is the end product in terms of business services. This is where all of the data from the CityChange app is aggregated and analyzed and turned into visual reports and tools for working with the built environment.
The platform is a cloud based web application.
Data received from the app is pre-organised into a custom developed fixed world grid of numbered tiles (each measuring 7x7m). This allows for data clustering and opens up new opportunities for data handling and processing.
In Version 1, pro users can monitor all reviews, suggestions, votes and comments received from the app and see how they compare to others.
In a coming iteration of the platform, it will be made possible to pair the data from the app with hard data already available but never before paired with sentiment data.
The following are just a few examples of the multitude of information the platform is already able to provide or will be in the future:
These five locations in upper Manhattan currently have the highest demand for an organic supermarket.
These specific suggestions for urban improvements are the most popular in Southern Essendon, Melbourne.
In Tokyo, ranking for 'air quality' has a correlation coefficient of -0.32 with NOx levels.
Examples of possible information and intelligence extracted from CityChange
Much will be learnt on the journey to refine the CityChange platform in its current iteration. An endless potential in data collection needs to be tamed and funneled into useful and profitable tools.
Numerous open data streams on everything from transport and pollution to property prices and planning permissions already exist.
Advances in optical and radar imagery also make it possible to measure and track physical changes in the built environment and couple this with sentiment data.
What does not exist is comprehensive knowledge of location-specific sentiments, needs and desires in relation to urban spaces.
This new data, collected by Civitize, will in itself be highly valuable. Coupled with existing “hard data”, it can create a truly transformative tool.
In urban Canada, a space with positive reviews for greenery within 100 meters of housing will add 6% to the property's value per square meter.
In Europe, the score for 'greenery' has a negative correlation of -0.62 with crime rates.
In Holland, the ranking for 'atmosphere' has a correlation coefficient of -0.74 with street width.
Examples of possible information and intelligence extracted from CityChange
Over time, CityChange will be able to track how changes in sentiment concerning a given location correlates with changes in hard data from that same location.
Through machine learning, this will offer further insights into humans’ reactions to a great number of variables in the physical world, making CityChange an even more valuable tool.
CityChange is also planned to become a tool for communicating directly with city dwellers. Administrations can run polls and surveys in targeted areas. Property developers can gather design preferences from users with a declared interest in specific areas. Or retailers can probe the interest in new shop openings.
Today, collecting specific information like this is done through conducting expensive and slow surveys, and it is virtually impossible to collect the data at scale. CityChange will change this.
These are the key issues with the built environment reported by the public in Northern Schöneberg, Berlin.
These shops and services are the most requested in Western Meguro, Tokyo.
Residents of The Triangle, Dublin report 42% higher than city average satisfaction with their environment. Correlations are:
Examples of possible information and intelligence extracted from CityChange