Researchers at MIT’s Senseable City Lab are revolutionizing mapmaking to better understand city life. The investigators report that “Often using mobile sensors or cellphone data, Senseable City’s mapping style — emerging from peer-reviewed research — broadens cartography in multiple ways: Data-driven maps, whether displayed in video form or as still images, expand the array of things that can be charted; show changes over time; and put new information in the hands of policymakers, residents, and others who want to govern communities well. . . . ‘Humans are not good at seeing every tree in a forest, but turning data into maps allows us to do something that AI cannot — synthesize our findings and, unprompted, turn in new directions. We can be in control of where we and our cities are going, but first we need the right maps to guide us’ [quote attributed to Ratti].”
“Mapping Cities in Motion.” 2023. Press release, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, https://news.mit.edu/2023/mapping-cities-motion-book-0613