Manchester’s Oxford Road is home to two universities, hospitals and various theatres and galleries. It is also a major southern route into the city, with buses, cars and taxis in a slow moving jam. We are currently developing this area, known as “the corridor”, by developing its internet capacity through a mix of fibre and wireless technologies. The pilot on SMARTiP will see us install a series of environmental sensors along the route, capturing real time environmental data about noise, pollutants and temperature. During the last few months staff at MDDA have been checking out which buildings to install our wireless access kit, testing the transfer of data between the wireless sensor points and the internet.
Before 2012 we hope to have put in a place the first phase of the system – with “real time” data available for the first time. Academics, businesses, creatives and technologists will work with the data to develop new applications and visualisations. We hope to ask key questions, such as where are the environmental blackspots; how do trees and green space help in improving the environment; and at what times of the day or year is pollution at its worst.