Mobile Sensors & NYC Parks Research Questions and Applications

NYU-CUSP Mobile Sensors Workshop

March 19, 2013

Jacqueline Lu, Director of GIS & Analytics

Forestry, Horticulture & Natural Resources

NYC is 14% Parkland (29,000 acres)

• 5,000+ individual properties

• 800 athletic fields

• nearly 1,000 playgrounds

• 550 tennis courts

• 66 public pools

• 48 recreational facilities

• 5 stadia

• 17 nature centers

• 13 golf courses

• 14 miles of beaches

• 1,200 monuments

• 22 historic house museums

NYC Parks

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Estimated 2 million trees in landscaped parks & natural areas

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600,000 street trees

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NYC’s Street Tree Population

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Number of trees

592,130 in 2005/6 (19% increase since 1995/6)

150+ species

Most common species citywide

1995/6 – Norway maple (23%)

2005/6 – London planetree (15%)

Is it possible to inventory street trees

and monitor them using smartphones?

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FY 02 FY03 FY04 FY05 FY06 FY07 FY08 FY09 FY10 FY11 FY12

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Forestry Activities

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In fiscal year 2012,

in New York City

there were

32,666 trees pruned

22,427 tree emergencies

16,521 trees planted

12,032 trees removed

10,000 acres of natural areas

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What can NYC Parks learn using smartphones as mobile sensors?

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See something or say something: New York

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Eric Fischer, 2011. http://www.flickr.com/photos/walkingsf/5926359544

Red dots are locations of Flickr pictures. Blue dots are locations of Twitter tweets.

White dots are locations that have been posted to both.

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1,195 foursquare venues on NYC parkland http://www.nycgovparks.org/web/foursquare/map.php

What can we learn from social media data?

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• “Opt-in” social media can only provide a partial view of park usage and

attendance

What can NYC Parks learn from smartphone geodata?

Comprehensive park attendance and usage data can affect

management actions and policies, especially when cross-referenced

with Parks’ maintenance work order data.

Smartphone location data can quantify use of specific features such

as playgrounds, exercise equipment, and passive areas.

Maps can be developed of desire lines (informal paths) so that

architects and landscape architects can use to inform park redesign

and reconstruction.

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What useful datasets can be developed?

There is no citywide

dataset of trails in NYC

Parks

• Trails data of different sources

exist for various Parks properties

• Most existing trails data have not

been verified

• Cell phone location data can

potentially identify not just the

location of trails, but also quantify

patterns of use by the public

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Natural Resources Group unconfirmed trails data, Hunter Island and Orchard

Beach, Pelham Bay Park, Bronx.

What can NYC Parks learn from social media data?

Social media contributions can potentially be used to gather

qualitative information, such as park users’ impressions and reactions

to specific park features.

Photo-sharing services can be an additional source of conditions

information for Parks’ inspection program, which surveys and

provides quality ratings for properties citywide.

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Hurricane

Sandy

Oct 28, 2012

Data Source: 311 Requests, NYC Parks Forestry Management System

Typical Day Nor’easter

March 13,

2010

Tornados

Sept 16,

2010

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Can smartphones provide additional information helpful for storm response?

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Can we use smartphones to map ephemeral phenomena such as urban floods?

• USGS collects some data post-storm on flood extent for validating FEMA

storm surge models. Crowdsourced geotagged photos can provide additional

data to compare to model-generated inundation areas.

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Locals and Tourists: New York

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Eric Fischer, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/walkingsf/4671594023/

Blue pictures by locals. Red pictures by tourists.

Geotagged photos from Flickr and Picasa.

Locals and Tourists: New York

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Eric Fischer, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/walkingsf/4671594023/

Blue pictures by locals. Red pictures by tourists.

Geotagged photos from Flickr and Picasa.

Can we use smartphones to map urban biodiversity?

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Top image: closeup of Locals and Tourists, Eric Fischer

(2010). Bottom image: red-tailed hawk observed in

Morningside Park, flickr user rbs10023

Can Smartphones Save Urban Natural

History? - David Goode, 2012, thenatureofcities.com

• Most of what we know about the distribution of

flora and fauna in cities is due to the work of amateur naturalists in the 19th and 20th centuries

• However, natural history skills and taxonomic knowledge is on the decline

Existing tools • London Museum of Natural History’s iSpot:

• facilitates sharing images, online identification tools, reputation building, connecting amateurs and experts

• Leafsnap:

• Smartphone application combining tree mapping with species recognition image algorithms

Street tree benefits - can they be verified?

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Monetary value of services provided by New York City’s Street Trees in 2005/2006.

Peper et al, 2007. USDA Forest Service Technical Report

Urban Heat Island Mapping

Could smartphones help

map the urban heat island

effect?

• Surface temperature is not the

same as air temperature.

• Can micro-scale temperature and

humidity data, combined with a

comprehensive tree canopy cover

map, quantify the shading

benefits provided by trees?

• Can these data be used to

quantify resulting impacts on

building-level energy usage?

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New York City surface temperature from LANDSAT 5 on July 4, 2010. Courtesy

of Christopher Small, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory

Air Quality Monitoring and Mapping

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New York City Community Air Survey Monitoring Locations.

NYC Department of Health & Mental Hygiene, 2012

Air Quality Monitoring and Mapping

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Measured pollutants

• Fine particles (PM 2.5)

• Nitrogen oxides

• Sulfur dioxide

• Ozone

• The only pollutant predicted

by tree cover

• Reduced levels through

reactions of ozone with leaf

surfaces

Can interpolated

pollution surfaces be

validated using mobile

sensors?

• i.e. Public Laboratory of

Open Technology &

Science’s DIY Spectrometer

New York City Community Air Survey Interpolated surfaces for monitored pollutants,

NYC Department of Health & Mental Hygiene, 2012

What can NYC Parks learn from mobile sensors?

Comprehensive park attendance and usage metrics, for entire parks as well as for specific features, to facilitate planning and resource allocation.

Identify and map official and unofficial park trails and paths.

Analyze qualitative information such as park visitor impressions and reactions.

Collect routine and emergency conditions information for further action.

Provide data on wildlife and plant occurrences in NYC’s parks.

Measure environmental conditions.

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Thanks!

Jacqueline Lu

Director of GIS & Analytics

Forestry, Horticulture & Natural Resources

Jacqueline.Lu@parks.NYC.gov