For what would you use knowing real-time density around you?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8253095

by johnathanteh • 12 years ago

7 13 12 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

I am playing with the idea of an app displaying real-time density of people to map out where and how many people are in a location (anonymously).

Would there be a situation where you think this could be useful?

As a recent encounter (travelling for holiday), I figured that it would be nice to see where people really are, mainly because I got hugely disappointed by biased Foursquare and Tripadvisor recommendations.

Any suggestion/experience for when knowing real-time where the crowd is could be useful?

specialdragon• 12 years ago

1. Rioting: The police want to be able to see where people are. People who live in the area just want to get home.

2. Shopping trips in places where old buildings have been converted. Knowing that the lane you want to walk down is utterly packed with people is useful.

3. Beach trips. All your friends get this app and say, "meet us at the beach". On arriving, not being able to see them, you check the app to see the pockets of people.

4. Traffic congestion. It stands to reason that if lots of people have this app you'll be able to see where the busy roads are and the less travelled.

johnathanteh6• 12 years ago

hmm interesting ... didn't think yet to sell it to the police! :-)

Thanks for your input mate!

nivertech2• 12 years ago

how do you get the realtime density? From cellular operators? Or maybe extrapolating from installed apps base?

johnathanteh6• 12 years ago

it's a mix of both actually, we found best accuracy through networks and data connection. any thoughts on this? you think this could be useful in some cases?

nivertech2• 12 years ago

    1. Retail Analytics
    2. Bar/pub Analytics - where to go out tonight?
    3. Internal security (how many people attended the demonstration?)
    4. Traffic jams (if you know people are moving fast or slow)
    5. Optimizations for public transit

There are several security companies analyzing data from cellular operators, the problem that they need to build or recalibrate their models for each geography.

How can I contact you?

lidiaC2• 12 years ago

-I would use it especially when I'm in a foreign town, in order to find some activities based on the population density.

-As suggestions:

->I would like an atmosphere feeling (comments about the activity or some photos)

->Also I would like to have a special identifier for my friends (that I added in this application)

->Maybe it would be nice if the application could add my location to facebook, and to let me tag friends from this application

->Maybe, in the future, I would like the activities to be categorized (music, movie, party, etc)

johnathanteh6• 12 years ago

that's very interesting, we were pondering about this situation as well. especially as foursquare and tripadvisor are not very reliable anymore. so this application would help by showing where really something is going on.

what applications or solutions are you using today when you're travelling?

lidiaC2• 12 years ago

For now, when I plan a trip, I google the location in order to see what activities are happening while I'm in that city, and always plan ahead. And, when I'm in my hometown, I usually find out what's going on in the city by asking around, or from a magazine that publishes upcoming events.

adibalcan• 12 years ago

Market research for retail/or other B&M industry

MalcolmDiggs• 12 years ago

Living in LA, one of the hardest parts of 'going out' is avoiding the crowds and finding places where people AREN'T. Everything is packed, every street has traffic, every line is out the door. If there was an app that tracked cool/chill areas and establishments to hang out/ go out in, I'd love that.

johnathanteh6• 12 years ago

That's an interesting insight. What do you think about sharing your location (anonymously), as kind of contributing to the crowd and aggregating data?

For what would you use knowing real-time density around you?

Related Stories