Complete Streets

For an interaction design and prototyping class I took as part of a User-Centered Design certificate program at the University of Washington, we were asked to “identify and describe a city-wide” problem that can be fixed with connected devices, VR, AR, or Voice Design type solution.” I bike to work and wondered what systems were in place to identify road disrepair (potholes for example), especially in lower income communities with less civic power and financial heft, and, further, how technology might be able to help improve and democratize those systems.

Problem

Potholed and poorly maintained city roads cause extensive, expensive damage to vehicles, from delivery trucks to Subarus to bicycles. In 2013, repairs related to poor road conditions like flat tires, bent rims, misalignment, and even the occasional airbag deployment cost Seattle drivers almost $700 dollars each.

In 2016, the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) spent 55% of its Major Maintenance and Replacement budget on roads alone, almost $29 million. With that large an investment in such a crucial area, the spend needs to be targeted and data-driven, identifying the relative condition of every road in the city so that allocation of resources can be appropriately and thoughtfully triaged.

Who’s affected?

Everyone who uses the city’s roads and/or pays taxes – including the 58,000 residents Seattle proper is expected to add by 2040.

Solution

When I drive a car or ride my bike, the condition of the road is hard to ignore. The jostling is uncomfortable, but it also makes me and my vehicle excellent potential data collectors. With inconspicuous, internet-connected, location-enabled, vibration-sensitive devices attached to cars, bikes, trucks, motorcycles, buses, and other vehicles throughout the city, SDOT planners could passively accumulate a live map of Seattle’s road conditions. The location data could also ping nearby cameras to provide a literally clearer picture of the exact nature of the problem. SDOT could better target where to allocate resources in real time to fix the worst and most heavily trafficked roads first, before moving on to less dire situations. Incidentally, it would provide first-hand traffic data (from which accidents and delays might be extrapolated) and show how the city’s travel habits change over time.

For the immediate benefit of drivers and cyclists, this map (both flat and in “Google Earth” camera-aided form) could be made public – all the data having been anonymized from the start as the devices would be identified only with serial numbers, not with their users – to help with commute planning. The user could also access their personally-collected data from the device itself to track their daily/weekly/monthly/YoY mileage and other metrics salient to the condition of their vehicle – some kind of relative wear-and-tear matrix – on a corresponding app. They could turn on a “sharing” function that would ping other connected vehicles that were also “sharing” to add to their personal maps. In collaboration with neighbors, this personally-collected data could, after analysis and visualization, be used as evidence that their neighborhood’s roads warrant additional or immediate attention. Another auxiliary benefit could be “Find My iPhone” style tracking in the event of vehicular theft.

Scenarios, storyboards, and experience map

Scenario 1

Darren has just received his monitoring device in the mail. He wants to charge it, do any necessary onboarding setup, and then get on the road to start tracking the state of his local streets.

Scenario 2

After a few days, Darren wants to start adding other participants' route and road condition information to his view.

Note: Some of the sensors being used below aren't mentioned in each panel because they aren't being directly engaged or can be assumed to be engaged such as location tracking and connection to SDOT/personal account. See "Scenario 1" for full list in analogous/similar steps.

Web presence and app mock-ups

Open questions (not all in the form of questions)

Privacy

Even if some people are inured to the idea that their data is not really their data, involving the government, even with all the explanatory messaging in the world is probably a major threat to the success of this project.

Accessibility

In particular, socio-economic accessibility. One of the things that really appealed to me about the idea for this project was the sense that road conditions, like many other things, are not handled with equal importance from community to community. Related to the above, it is imperative that messaging around this program be sensitive to the varied experiences of different communities with government and to account for any potential disparities in vehicle use and internet access, for example.

Technical feasibility

While I think this device’s readings would likely end up sending a reliable signal (data-wise) despite external forces causing extra jostling or motion, this is not a certainty. Other aspects include connectivity, both digitally speaking depending on where a participant is in the area and also physically because different methods for attachment would be needed for different vehicles.

Participation

Beyond ‘civic participation’ and other potentially squishy motivators, how might we incentivize people (beyond the city’s own vehicles) to join the program?

Supplemental materials

Experience Map

Video prototype

As final deliverable, we were asked to create a video prototype explaining and, to a certain extent, pitching our project.

Note: Throughout (and indeed in the thumbnail), the project is referred to as “My Streets.” The new name, “Complete Streets,” is used everywhere else. I made the change to create a more civic, universal sense of the product and also to refer to the literal task it is meant to help achieve: more physically complete streets.