5 ms·
Great point but there are some legitimate reasons that the city may want ride data especially if Uber wants to replace multiple forms of transportation (taxis,
by knz 10y ago
Great point but there are some legitimate reasons that the city may want ride data especially if Uber wants to replace multiple forms of transportation (taxis, personal vehicles, frieght delivery, ride services for the elderly/disabled etc).
There are also other municipal needs like collecting utility information from radio systems or pavement management surveys that cities often drive around to collect - Uber could potentially be utilized for data gathering if it was determined that they had sufficient coverage etc.
Every GIS nerd would love a data set like the Uber tracks for analysis and to see what else they could be used for (Uber for mass license plate collection is like something from Black Mirror).
- lightbyte 10y agoThis data could be extremely helpful to planning out public transportation. You would be able to determine the most common areas people go to, where they come from, when they typically go there, etc. All would help in planning bus routes/subway lines/etc.
- scirocco 10y agoThus improving public transport and make people less dependent on Uber :)
- Fricken 10y agoThey're not in competition with one another. Together they are both in competition with privately owned cars. A transportation system effective enough to compel people to give their cars up is good for both of them. Uber alone is too expensive, and public transit alone can't provide service everywhere all the time cost effectively.
- caseysoftware 10y agoIf the city wants to contract with Uber (or FedEx or UPS or...) to do pavement management surveys, that could be an interesting conversation. But that's not what the city is asking for or has proposed. Instead of imagining uses for their data, let's realize it's their data that we have individually given them and we may not want the city - any city - to have. Remember Uber's (terrible) "Rides of Glory" post describing how they could detect hooksups - http://www.whosdrivingyou.org/blog/ubers-deleted-rides-of-glory-blog-post http://www.whosdrivingyou.org/blog/ubers-deleted-rides-of-gl... ? Now imagine that in your local government's hands.
- maverick_iceman 10y ago>Every GIS nerd would love a data set like the Uber tracks for analysis The same argument can be made about Facebook's data. I don't think that justifies making it public.
- knz 10y agoFor sure. I wasn't implying it should be released to everyone.