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Web and Mobile Application Development »Spatial Data Mining, Modeling and Distributed Computing »
CommonSpace users can view maps of local businesses and events in their transitshed, and share with friends
CommonSpace enables users to discover local, independent businesses through a fun, interactive mapping platform that encourages sustainable transportation.
Clients: The Sustainable Business Network of Philadelphia, NPower Pennsylvania and the William Penn Foundation
Challenge: The Sustainable Business Network of Philadelphia (SBN) connects businesses and individuals with the resources necessary to create a local, green business community. Through a collaborative project, SBN, NPower Pennsylvania and the William Penn Foundation sought to create a web application to encourage Philadelphians and visitors to support the local economy while making environmentally responsible transportation choices.
Solution: Azavea borrowed from the urban planning concept of a “walkshed”—the area accessible to pedestrians within a given distance – and created CommonSpace, an application that enables users to calculate their personal “transitshed” to find destinations within that area. CommonSpace calculates a user’s transitshed based on starting location, preferred mode of transportation (walk, bike or public transit) and the length of time they’re willing to travel. It then generates an interactive map of accessible areas based on the criteria given. Users can add transitsheds for friends, and the application identifies “common spaces,” or areas convenient for all parties. They can then search these areas for activities and businesses of interest, add them to a plan, and share it with others.
Azavea used a new generation of its DecisionTree technology, which distributes geoprocessing across many servers. When a user selects a starting address and mode of transit, tens of thousands of possible routes are calculated behind the scenes, and the application renders the possible area they can reach in the selected travel time. The platform is built on a combination of road network data from OpenStreetMap and transit data from the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA), and integrates functionality from Graphserver, an open-source multi-model trip planner.
Outcomes: CommonSpace connects users to new unique local restaurants, cultural events and shopping destinations. The project partners are considering potential options to improve the application, including a smartphone version, user accounts for saved searches, and extended coverage past city boundaries.
During the peak period of traffic in the preview phase, CommonSpace supported more than 300 visits per day (with a single-day maximum of more than 550) while remaining performant, responding to user-generated transitshed requests in sub-second times.
Website: http://commonspace.us/