Sensors and the City: IBM Exhibit Visualizes Today's Urban Problems--and Potential Solutions [Slide Show]
The IBM "Think" exhibit analyzes data to create virtual representations of wasted drinking water, solar-energy potential, traffic snarls, air quality and credit card transactions in and around New York City
![Sensors and the City: IBM Exhibit Visualizes Today's Urban Problems--and Potential Solutions [Slide Show]](https://static.scientificamerican.com/sciam/cache/file/06EB6372-20FC-4350-86A82238EAEFD1C3.jpg?w=590&h=393)
Sensors and the City: IBM Exhibit Visualizes Today's Urban Problems--and Potential Solutions [Slide Show]
- 1964 WORLD'S FAIR: For the 1964 World's Fair in Flushing Meadows, N.Y., Charles and Ray Eames designed the IBM exhibition as a dome resembling an IBM electric typewriter ball from the era, albeit with only the letters I, B and M. The company was based in New York City until 1964, when founder Thomas J. Watson moved the corporate headquarters to Armonk, N.Y. Courtesy of IBM
- VIDEO FOREST: In a small theater with wall-to-wall mirrors on either side, there are 20 monolithic video columns, each 2.4 meters tall and 1.2 meters wide. They are arranged in clusters that immerse the audience for a 10-minute film highlighting scientific and technological progress in areas including space exploration, personalized medicine, traffic management and agriculture around the world. At the conclusion of the film, all 40 video screens convert into large interactive touch panels. Courtesy of IBM
- AIR QUALITY: IBM installed a particulate-matter sensor at the exhibit site to augment information the city already has about air quality. When combined with traffic data, the air quality maps can be used to determine the areas of the city most affected by pollution (see lower right inset). Courtesy of IBM
- TRAFFIC FLOW: IBM mounted cameras atop Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall that monitor traffic flow at Columbus Avenue and Broadway. The wall uses a moving line (see lower right inset) to represent traffic data. When traffic is heavy, the line bends and loops, becoming snarled. When traffic is light, the line moves smoothly across the screen in a straight path. Courtesy of IBM
- WATER WASTED: More than 37,800 liters of water is lost via leakage every minute as it flows through New York State's aqueducts into the city, according to IBM. The wall visualizes a calculation of that volume of water corresponding to the volume of the data wall. "Essentially we're filling the wall with digital water," IBM's Lee Green, vice president of brand experience and strategic design, explains. Courtesy of IBM
