Cabspotting
Using realtime GPS data to visualize the journeys of Yellow Cabs in San Francisco
Among the first uses of realtime data in a visualization of any kind on the web, Cabspotting was shown in the Design and the Elastic Mind exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in 2008, was shown at NighTime Dreamreal at the Shanghai Power Station of Art (November 2013–March 2014), and is now in the permanent collection of MoMA. In these frame-by-frame maps of the locations of cabs in the Bay Area, taken from GPS data from Yellow Cabs in San Francisco, the city pulses like a beating heart.
Scott Snibbe originally invited us to collaborate with him on this project. It was part of a research project called Invisible Dynamics, sponsored by The Exploratorium of San Francisco.