September has been quite a busy month. We had a wonderful Shareabouts Day spreading maps to five community groups, made many new local friends during a full day-long Park(ing) Day, had our work with NYC DOT featured in the Venice Biennale, launched the Transit Data Dashboard, were deemed “indispensable” (specifically, Streetsblog) by the NY Times, launched Argo, and ran a huge crowsourced test of our new traffic app.
And yet, the conversations continue. We cannot keep on top of what’s going on out in the world, no matter how much time we spend trying to make our own section of it better. Here’s a rundown on what OpenPlansers have been chatting about over the last week.
+ Does Louisville need more highways? No! Did Louisville need the highways it has now in the first place – probably not! But there’s a plan to build more. Why? via NYTimes
+ New York City passed legislation to put QR codes on permits – construction permits, restaurant letter grades and day care centers. One step closer to a completely integrated society. via AMNY
+ How’s Data? A neat dashboard that displays a data view of Chicago local economy displaying how many building permits, housing foreclosures, unemployment, and new business licenses have been pulled each month giving you the stats of how business is in Chicago. via HowsBusiness.org
+ New New York City Taxis. We’ve seen the proposal before and now the TLC has approved them. via Core77
+ Brooklyn’s new Barclays Center: minutes from everywhere, except, apparently, the G train. via Benjamin Kabak
+ Proposed design renderings of projects requesting funding through Kickstarter are no longer allowed. Kickstarter proposals can no longer include product simulations. A recent rash of undelivered or poorly executed projects have led to this. via Core77
+ In the late 70′s Honda began to develop car electronics and gyroscopes that led to the first electronic navigation system. It used a gyroscope to track vector and directionality that would scan along a map printed on film and back lit. Pretty cool what Honda developed back then. They were battling issues that still plague vehicle tracking initiatives. via Honda
+ Self-driving cars are on an automated path to becoming legal in California… via Gizmodo
+ Scoot Networks launches electric scooter (scoots) in San Francisco. Just when you finally explained to your suburban friends that Zipcar isn’t meant to be used to rent a car for the whole weekend and you should just use their car for your trip upstate and not worry about the extra mileage fee at the end of their lease because a 3-day zipcar rental would cost more than the mileage penalty, get ready to explain to them that an electric scooter isn’t just a children’s toy or figments of a romantic Italian movie and, yes, people in cities use them to get around for legitimate reasons. via Smart Planet
+ Is a the presence of a humongous ferris wheel enough to compel the public to visit that fifth borough, Staten island? Boro President James P. Molinari sums it up: “We’ve gone from having the world’s biggest dump to having the world’s biggest wheel.” Progress, marching on. via Gothamist
+ Closing on a high note, fun with signage in the London Underground via Buzzfeed