Shake UP your city News : SenseMyCity Application
Analysis of fuel consumption and stress levels
SenseMyCity is the name of the application developed for smart phones. Through the use of sensors it is possible to register the everyday life of users for further analysis. Information such as fuel consumption per journey, possibility of car sharing or levels of stress are some of the data which can be studied. Ana Aguiar, researcher and professor at Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto, is the responsible for this application.
Designed to work in conjunction with other research projects and not separately, the application can be used in research of various areas such as engineering and psychology. Allows users to record, consciously and voluntarily, their daily routine.
The process is simple. The user records his routine through sensors embedded in his smart phone and then views it on a webpage created for that purpose. The collection and analysis of such data (algorithms) can lead to some conclusions such as identifying areas with slower traffic, places or situations that increase stress levels of drivers, among others. This same analysis can be used to optimize routes and consumption. The use of SenseMyCity allows, for example, the identification of people with similar mobility patterns (boosting car sharing and carpooling) and map the city suggesting bike routes with little slope and flat floor.
This application can also be used for the analysis of pooled data from several users (crowdsensing). This way, it is possible to develop longitudinal studies of occupational stress which integrate questionnaires and vital sensors. These can be applied to firefighters and bus drivers, among others. Recently concluded, SenseMyCity is being tested and will be applied to policemen in order to analyze the professionals’ well-being.