Web 2.0 Panel: Humans as Sensors

Description

Today at the Web 2.0 Summit, Brady Forrest of O'Reilly Media ran a panel called Humans As Sensors . With him were four organizations doing innovative applications using sensors: Markus Tripp (Mobilizy), Deborah Estrin (Computer Science Department, UCLA), Sharon Biggar (Path Intelligence), Di-Ann Eisnor (Waze).

Each of the speakers started by explaining what they do.

Waze is a real-time crowd sourcing and live mapping application. It works on iPhone, Windows Mobile, Symbian and Android. Di-Ann Eisnor explained that their service does "transactional cartography." It was initially launched in Israel, then launched in the U.S. just a few months ago.

Eisnor said that Waze aimes to take sensor data from "entertainment to action." It started out being used to map objects, then people, now processes.

Path Intelligence is bringing online innovation to the real world, according to co-founder and the Chief Operating Officer Sharon Biggar. They are targeting the retail market - specifically shops in malls. She said that the online world is good at collecting data on user experience, but the local mall doesn't have that data.

What Path Intelligence is doing is analogous to Google Analytics, said Biggar. It works by collecting sensor datas and anonymous pings from cellphones - it doesn't require downloads.

Biggar said that what they are measuring is real-time behavior, "right now." One of their current aims is to help the offline retail industry cope with recession. At mall sites they respond directly to the way shoppers are behaving. They do this by installing sensors and accurately locating mobile phones indoors. ...

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