Photo: berlin-event-foto.de
Futurium workshop on the senseBox:Bike – with photo gallery
Environmental monitoring device on the bike
We enjoy our bicycles as a popular and sustainable means of transport in the city. We feel free, we get exercise, and we take in a bit of fresh air... Fresh air?! Car exhaust fumes often get up cyclists’ noses. Together with the start-up re:edu based in the bicycle city of Münster, we want to find out where it stinks in Berlin and see where cyclists and motorists get a bit too close for comfort. The first senseBox:Bike workshop recently took place in the Futurium Lab.
Photo: berlin-event-foto.de
The senseBox:Bike is a do-it-yourself kit for citizen science and environmental monitoring, which displays its measurements online on the openSenseMap, an internet platform for open-source environmental data. The participants assembled the senseBoxes using a plug-in system and mounted them in casings made of 3D-printed parts.
Each time they cycle through the streets of Berlin, the senseBox:Bike records their journeys via GPS. The data collected includes distance measurements, braking actions and vibrations, but also environmental data such as particulate matter and temperature. The data is then sent to the openSenseMap.
In order to uncover weak points and potential areas for improvement, and also to obtain reliable open data, it’s important that the latter is collected by as many people as possible. Futurium and re:edu use the collected data to create individual evaluations and visualisations.