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This map shows the location of every independent coffee shop in Brooklyn and the walking-shed community associated with it. Independent coffee shops are positive markers of a living community. They function as social spaces, urban offices, and places to see the world go by. Communities are often formed by having spaces in which people can have casual interactions, and local and walkable coffee shops create those conditions, not only in the coffee shop themselves, but on the sidewalks around them. We use maps to know where these coffee shop communities exist and where, by placing new coffee shops, we can help form them. We applied two steps to generate the data displayed by the map. First, we used the Google Places API to locate all coffee shops in a given city. Second, for each point in the map we queried the walking route and distance to its nearest coffee shop using the Google Distance Matrix API. In the final map the colored areas represent a region which is walkable to a specific coffee shop (within one kilometer or 0.7 miles). The intensity of color at each point indicates its distance from its corresponding coffee shop.

A general TV interview, but some interesting thoughts; more found on DaVinci Web site, forwarded separately.

The World Economic Forum's annual list of this year's breakthrough technologies, published today, includes "socially aware" open AI. As technology for AI assistants expands, imagine that you could walk up to a display in a museum and ask a custom AI assistant any question you like about what you are seeing. Siri and Cortana and Google Assistant and Amazon Echo try to answer questions on all topics, but what if museums and other organizations could build their own add-on packs for their sphere of knowledge? The Getty, for example, would prepare answers to every question they've ever heard about "Statue of a Victorious Youth" and museum visitors (or maybe anybody in the world) could use the add-on pack to find out what they want to know.

no doubt there has been good measure of skepticism and backlash; idea of walking around 'distracted' - or possibility of always recording-- lends to some dystopian images of the future... I'd say the TV was a similar technology that led to distraction/couch potato culture. (But we've moved on) This is more mobile - and in the world. I think it's exciting -- and needs some healthy skepticism. For CAMLF-- I look at these glasses- in more specific applications--where context is more controlled. Imagine the 'layering' of experiences. Providing visual learning element to the objects inside our walls Museum environments seem perfect--- even more so than (what I think is a poor vision) walking around public streets. In private situations for Google Goggles seems more ideal.. Maybe?

Great report on how the libraries in NY and New Jersey became centers of communication during the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Could museum's serve the same purpose in their community? This concept could be worked into museums' Disaster Preparedness plan.

Elaine Gurian has been advocating for years for museums to be "essential" in their communities. This is an example of walking the walk, not just talking the talk. Yes, museums should think about how they could serve their communities in the event of disasters and build those ideas into their prepardedness plans.

What are you missing out on in your own city by sticking to your established routes each day, or driving instead of walking?

It's all about the experience

Using pavement squares designed to replace concrete paving slabs, Pavegen squares generate energy as people walk across them. Light a building? Power an exhibition?

The pedestrian is an extremely fragile species, the canary in the coal mine of urban livability. Under the right conditions, this creature thrives and multiplies. But creating those conditions requires attention to a broad range of criteria, some more easily satisfied than others.

Never eating where there is an enthusiastic young crowd is just one of the guidelines for eating well at reasonable prices.