Chicago kicks off the Array of Things project

The first data-collecting sensors as part of a delayed but major roads project have been stationed atop traffic light poles in Chicago. The US city installed two nodes containing computers and sensors including low-resolution cameras as well as air quality sensors, according to a report in the Chicago Tribune newspaper.
September 12, 2016 Read time: 2 mins

The first data-collecting sensors as part of a delayed but major roads project have been stationed atop traffic light poles in Chicago.

The US city installed two nodes containing computers and sensors including low-resolution cameras as well as air quality sensors, according to a report in the Chicago Tribune newspaper.

It is part of the Array of Things project that was supposed to start in 2014. Array is a collaboration between the University of Chicago, Argonne National Laboratory and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. AT&T is the internet provider. The project is backed by $3.1 million from the National Science Foundation.

System software will analyse images to count pedestrians and vehicles and release the data for free on the city of Chicago's Data Portal and the Plenar.io portal. But the portals are still undergoing development, according to the article. The initial objects are to establish traffic and pedestrian patterns, detect flooding during adverse weather and analyse air quality.

However, there could be up to 80 nodes positioned around the city by the end of the year, according to comments by Charlie Catlett, director of the Urban Center and Computation and Data at the University of Chicago and Argonne and a leader of the project. Upwards of 500 could be collecting data by the end of 2018.

Rights groups have expressed concern over ‘big brother is watching you’ issues and the city recently finalised a privacy policy covering some details of how data will be used. The Tribune article noted that there remains issues over what access law enforcement organisations would have to the data.

Highway & Network Management

Related Content

  • UK’s IMechE calls for a Clean Air Act
    June 15, 2018
    The UK needs extensive monitoring of current transport emissions in order to set realistic pollution reduction targets, according to an engineering umbrella organisation. The Institution of Mechanical Engineers is calling for a major Clean Air Act to counter what it believes is a deadly rise in air pollution along the countries' transportation corridors, both road and rail. “Individuals breathe in 20kg of air every day and because we can’t see it, we don’t know about the harmful particles it contains,” sai
    Read More
  • Central Ring Road to become one of most important projects in modern history of road-building in Russia
    December 16, 2014
    Moscow’s new ring road will provide a major economic boost and tackle congestion - Eugene Gerdner writes The Russian Government has officially started building of the Central Ring Road (CRR), one of the largest infrastructural projects in the modern history of the country. Total volume of investments in the project is estimated at more than US$7.2 billion (300 billion RUB). Building of the road should be completed by the World Cup 2018 and will be carried out as part of the existing state program ‘The de
    Read More
  • 16th IRF World Meeting
    February 14, 2012
    International Road Community Rises to the Challenge of Safe, Smart and Sustainable Mobility. Songs are like roads - highways to the heart - opening new vistas, new challenges and new opportunities." Singer, Mafalda Arnault's words during a splendidly moving opening ceremony were an apt introduction to the spirit and achievements of what proved a highly successful 16th IRF World Meeting in Lisbon. A capacity audience clapping in unison to the soulful sounds of Fado was symbolic of an industry showing it can
    Read More
  • Road safety improving, but vulnerable road users need protection
    January 11, 2013
    Preliminary data from France over the number of fatalities on the road network reveal safety improvements during 2012. The numbers killed dropped by 7-8%, although the final figures for December are not yet available. The preliminary figures suggest that around 3,600-3,700 were killed on French roads in 2012, compared with 3,970 in 2011. This reduction is in line with targets on cutting the death rate and Ministry of the Interior wants to bring the fatality rate to just 2,000 by 2020. This reduction has bee
    Read More

Highlighted Content