So, there I was reading the latest awesome issue of Wired (the UK version) about what the next decade holds for cities around the world now that the internets allow users to search and view data in real time.
They’re an interesting and thought-provoking few articles. Apparently we’re already witnessing the birth of the revolution – from a bloke who can find where his nearest ice cream van is using Twitter, to how real-time mobile phone data is able to predict traffic patterns. In short real-time data networks are changing our lives, even if we don’t even know it.
Apparently systems are being worked on right now that can allow a user – from their mobile phone – calculate not only the fastest way from one place to another using real-time public transport information and traffic density on surface streets, but even pollution levels so that they can find the healthiest route. Handy for asthma sufferers. Maybe it’ll lead to trains and buses running not to set schedules, but just running regularly.
The explosion of data is absolutely epic, and it’s only going to grow bigger and bigger. A big thing at the moment is ‘augmented reality’, which is a live direct or indirect view of a physical real-world environment whose elements are merged with (or augmented by) virtual computer-generated imagery. Imagine using your phone’s camera to point at something, say Trafalgar Square, and your phone will display texts and links and what not over the live image on your screen. Augmented reality is going to really change the game.
So we live in interesting times. The game is changing beyond belief, and it’s all thanks to real-time data and our mobile phones. Who’d have guessed a decade ago that mobile phones would be so crucial to the way we live our lives? Ten years ago my mobile phone could play Snake and handle calls and text messages. Now it’s an extension of my self. As the HTC advert says, my phone is the first thing I check in the morning, the last thing I look at before going to sleep, and it’s something I never go anywhere without. It is my connection to the world via Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, the world wide web, and it tells me exactly where I am in the world at any given moment. It has a torch on it, and it’s a spirit level, and a seismometer. It plays music, it has my entire photo collection on it, and it tells me what the weather is going to be. It sends my emails to me, I can blog with it, play football games on it, tell me if my train is going to be late, use it as a TV guide, convert currency, let me pretend I’m Spiderman, and upload photos to Flickr on it.
The weird thing? In 18 months all of the above that my iPhone can do will seem so backward. In 18 months we’ll be living in a different world.
How did we ever cope without mobile phones? How did we ever cope without the internet? In just ten years (maybe even less) we’ve become a society so deeply connected that I honestly don’t know if we could cope if we had it all taken away from us.
Still, my home town is pretty crappy with or without all of the above. Most people here probably haven’t even heard of Twitter.
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