Urban resilienceChicago becomes first city to launch Array of Things, an innovative urban sensing project

This week in Chicago, the Array of Things team begins the first phase of the groundbreaking urban sensing project, installing the first of an eventual 500 nodes on city streets. By measuring data on air quality, climate, traffic, and other urban features, these pilot nodes kick off an innovative partnership between the University of Chicago, Argonne National Laboratory, and the City of Chicago better to understand, serve, and improve cities.

ANL says that Array of Things is designed as a “fitness tracker” for the city, collecting new streams of data on Chicago’s environment, infrastructure, and activity. This hyper-local open data can help researchers, city officials and software developers study and address critical city challenges, such as preventing urban flooding, improving traffic safety and air quality and assessing the nature and impact of climate change.

In the first phase of the project, fifty nodes will be installed in August and September on traffic light poles in The Loop, Pilsen, Logan Square, and along Lake Michigan. These nodes will contain sensors for measuring air and surface temperature, barometric pressure, light, vibration, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, ozone, and ambient sound intensity. Two cameras will collect data on vehicle and foot traffic, standing water, sky color, and cloud cover.

The first two nodes were installed last week at the intersections of Damen and Archer Avenues and Damen Avenue and Cermak Road, where they will collect information on weather, traffic, and air quality. A total of 500 nodes will be installed across Chicago by the end of 2018, and additional nodes will be shared with cities across the United States and in countries such as England, Mexico, and Taiwan.

“The University of Chicago has a long and flourishing tradition of scholarship that engages with urban life and makes a positive impact,” said Robert J. Zimmer, president of the University. “The Array of Things project advances these ideals by gathering a broad scope of data about the urban environment, in a form that researchers, policymakers and residents can use to develop innovative ways of improving our city and urban areas around the world.”