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By viv, 26 January, 2012 8:00 am

In September 2011, GeoVation challenge winner’s liftshare began development of ‘myPTP- A Travel Plan Just for Me’; an innovative web-based tool, designed to provide personalised travel plans to individuals at a fraction of the current time and cost.

liftshare’s myPTP Project Manager, Katie Lumley, gives us a most up-to-date progress report on how the tool has been shaping up over the last 5 months:

Since September 2011, the liftshare project team have been working hard to develop and refine one of our most exciting projects – myPTP – funded through GeoVation and the Ideas in Transit project.  myPTP will uniquely combine public transport, walking, cycling, and car-share options for individual journeys, and have the potential to help any organisation or community effectively deliver personalised travel plans (PTPs) at a fraction of the current time and cost associated with traditional approaches.

myPTP encourages and enables users to make informed choices about the way they travel.

Development began with design, before working to build, test, and refine the new and innovative web-based tool. During November, our biggest hurdle; accessing data for all modes of transport (walk, cycle, car-share, bus and train) across the UK, was overcome, and work to integrate data for all transport options then began in December.

Users will input individual’s journey information and in return will receive clear information on all transport options available to them, including maps, local provision options such as community transport, and any incentives the organisation has put in place to change their travel behaviour e.g. a week’s free bus pass. Ongoing communication is then possible to monitor modal shift and follow up changes in provision etc. Below is a sneak-preview of the online myPTP results:

Over 38 organisations have already expressed interest in using myPTP to deliver PTPs to individuals, and of those three organisations have been chosen to pilot the tool this February. These initial tests will be carried out in collaboration with researchers from the University of West of England, through the Ideas in Transit project, and will help us to evaluate the usefulness and usability of myPTP from an end-user point of view (that’s me and you!), as well as assess its impact ongoing on travel behaviours. We are looking forward to hearing feedback from the test pilots so we can keep innovating and refining myPTP to ensure it is useful and effective for all.

We are very excited with the progress of myPTP so far; both internal development of the tool itself, as well as its seeming ability to appeal and meet individuals, organisations, and transport operator needs. If you would like to:

• Help individuals make informed smarter choices about their mode of travel, as well as improve accessibility.
• Better understand transport patterns of your organisation, to increase efficiency and save time and cost.
• Help Local Authorities determine shortfalls in provision and help local transport operators determine what services will best satisfy demand.
• Have on-going communication with individuals about their travel options to achieve real modal shift, and to relay any possible changes in provision.

myPTP could be your solution. For more information please feel free to contact me, Katie Lumley, on: (01953) 451166 or katie@liftshare.com.

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By viv, 19 January, 2012 8:00 am

If you’re wondering how our GeoVation Challenge winner, AccessAdvsr is getting on with development, then find out more below in an update from Neil Taylor:

Since our last blog we have been working closely with our software developers, Realistic Digital, to create and refine the AccessAdvisr website on the basis of the specification we drew up in the autumn.  As total newbies to the field of web-app development this has been a great experience for our team, and we have been learning a massive amount about the process (and pitfalls!) of working to create an innovative web-based project.

The great news is that we now know our webservices from our browser optimisation, and are almost ready to start proof-of-concept testing with real live people here in Nottingham.  This is also excellent news for our colleagues at ITP, who will soon be able to speak to us about the weather, sports, current affairs and other projects without fearing they may get drawn into a debate about ‘Where the search bar should go’, or ‘Should the favourites button be bigger’ (I still say it should…).

We are also looking forward to collaborating with colleagues at Loughborough University’s Design School through the Ideas in Transit project.  They have been helping us to draw up an evaluation plan that is rooted in various innovation and end-user behaviour theories to give us the lowdown on what people actually think about the concept, the site itself, and the way they use it.  This iterative process will be the first acid test for the site, and will no doubt pose us as many questions as answers.  Nonetheless we are really looking forward to hearing people’s thoughts and views.

Here is an ‘in-development’ screenshot for a sneak preview of how the site is shaping up:

If you want to learn more about AccessAdvisr, then please contact me, Neil Taylor at ITP on 0115 9886903, or email: taylor@itpworld.net.  Access Advisr is also now on Facebook, so you can ‘like’ us to keep up with all the latest project developments.

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By dee, 16 January, 2012 8:00 am

Hello all and Happy New Year. Following on from last year’s theme of special days and weeks in Britain the Big School’s Bird Watch (a schools based version of the RSPB’s long-running Big Garden Watch) starts today.

Coming into its 11th year, Big Schools’ Birdwatch asks teachers to take their class outside and to watch birds for a total of one hour during the day and to then send their results to the RSPB.

A comment from last years’ activities “We used the information collected to carry out an investigation in maths, drawing graphs, concluding from results and to discuss probability” (Reception teacher, Cambridgeshire).

Teachers could extend these activities and use
OS OpenSpace Web-map builder in the class to plot their sightings, much like Nottinghamshire Birds.

The RSPB would like to beat the record set last year of just under 90, 000 UK school teachers and children getting involved, which I am sure they will achieve.

.

GeoVation has just launched a similar initiative at BETT with its Mission:Explore GeoVation Challenge which will ask children to identify a food related problem in their community and think of an idea to solve it. Children in Key Stages 2, 3 and 4 who make use of Ordnance Survey mapping can win a slice of funding to help turn them into a reality.

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By viv, 12 January, 2012 8:00 am

Since its launch at the end of August last year FixMyTransport, a site to report public transport issues,  developed by GeoVation Challenge winner, mySociety has grown considerably.  Myf Nixon from mySociety tells us more below:

It’s now  just over four months since FixMyTransport launched. It’s great to see so many people turn to us when problems arise with public transport – and that more and more users are reporting on-the-go. That is, of course, thanks to the mobile version of the site, which is GeoVation-funded.

Since launch, we’ve sent over 1,700 problems to transport operators, and our community of users has grown to over 3,000.
In the site’s early days, just 15% of visitors came via mobile. Since then, we’ve made a number of enhancements for those visiting via handheld devices:

• We’ve introduced geolocation, which means that the site can automatically pinpoint where you are – very useful for those travelling in unfamiliar places, and also a boon for those who don’t want to type too much on tiny mobile keyboards
• The same technology means that we can also invite users to see ‘issues near you’. This helps people engage with transport problems local to their own area. It’s also had an unexpected, but positive, effect: old problems get revived as people rediscover them. There’s now much less chance of a campaign fading away, forgotten.
• Maps are more user-friendly on mobile browsers now, and are scrollable just as they are on the desktop version.

Meanwhile, we have encouraged visits from commuters by putting out most of our social media messages during the rush hour: scrolling through Twitter and Facebook seems to be a very popular way to pass the time on packed trains.

As a result of all this, mobile activity now represents almost a quarter of all visits – 24%.

We’re continuing to work on the site as a whole in several small ways, as well.

Most significantly, there is now a new step in the reporting process. Before submitting a report, users are alerted to other campaigns on the same route or at the same stop. We hope this will cut down on duplicate reports and help consolidate existing campaigns.

For the new year, our most important new challenge is to refresh our data more frequently. Up until now, we’ve been relying on the public NaPTAN and NPTDR datasets to generate the 30,000+ routes and stops on FixMyTransport.

Routes change, and services change hands; some are even cancelled, especially in the climate of council budgetary cuts. Our helpful users are great at contacting us to let us know when our information is out-of-date, but checking and correcting this data takes a significant amount of our time.

The good news is that we now have access to much more frequently-refreshed data, and we’re working right now to integrate it. The result should be a more accurate FixMyTransport, and a happier support team.

Also in the pipeline are operator-specific pages which will allow for the browsing of every problem reported to each transport provider. There are plans for a blog so that we can discuss transport issues with what is becoming a vibrant and very engaged community. Meanwhile, we’re expecting mobile user visits to rise and rise – we’ll be watching that particular metric with interest.

Myf Nixon

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By viv, 11 January, 2012 8:00 am

GeoVation winner’s Mission:Explore will be announcing their support for a new GeoVation Challenge and a brand new Ordnance Survey “Viewpoint” reward, both aimed at supporting children, families and schools in using geography in innovative ways.

During a presentation at the BETT Show on Saturday 14 January Alan Parkinson from Mission:Explore will start the GeoVation challenge which will ask children to identify a food related problem in their community, think of a solution and come up with a plan for executing it.The best plans that also make use of Ordnance Survey mapping can win a slice of funding to help turn them into a reality.  Children in Key Stages 2, 3 and 4 can enter by doing a series of three GeoVation missions on Mission:Explore to win a GeoVation badge and then completing and entry form.

Alan will also be sharing a brand new Ordnance Survey ‘Viewpoint” reward. Made up of missions that are located on nearly 800 viewpoints across the UK, children and families can log into Mission:Explore, find their nearest viewpoint and win points  by submitting evidence of their explorations. The missions encourage young explorers to discover other people’s points of view, to identify (in)visible things, create interpretation panels and much more.

Now launched – find out more

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By chris, 5 January, 2012 8:00 am

We are delighted to be hosting the Mapping the Future workshop at the Oxford Real Farming Conference on Friday. We’ll explore the challenges mapping can be used to address, with innovative examples and contributions from local food and farming pioneers including contributions from City Farmers, Food Nation, Sustaination, GeoFutures and Ordnance Survey.

We worked with the Campaign for Real Farming and Agrarian Renaissance when we launched Geovation’s “How can Britain Feed Itself?” challenge in June 2010. As a result we were delighted to be able to seed fund two innovative ventures, Food Nation and City Farmers that are using geography to help address sustainable, local food and farming. You can read about their ventures here on the blog.

Building on interest in the role geography can play, we held a Local Food and Farming Mapping Workshop, together with Tasting the Future at Ordnance Survey in July and produced this report from the day.

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By viv, 4 January, 2012 9:55 am

Last year we had a great year at GeoVation with funding awarded to 8 GeoVation Challenge winners in our ‘How can Britain feed itself?’ and ‘How can we improve transport in Britain?’ Challenges.  Since then our winners have been busy getting their ideas up and running as a result of GeoVation Challenge funding  - you can catch up with their progress here on the blog.

In 2012 we are focusing our GeoVation Challenges on key areas where we think geography can play a positive role in enabling change.  We want this year to be our biggest yet!  Very soon we’ll be announcing our GeoVation Challenges and calling for entrepreneurs, developers and community groups to focus their efforts to address two distinct challenges.   Both challenges will conclude, in the summer, at a GeoVation Showcase where the top ideas will be awarded funding to help them develop.

So keep visiting the blog and Enter the Challenge page for the latest news on the launch of our Challenges.

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By viv, 23 December, 2011 8:30 am

Bikemapper.org.uk is new website looking collecting information to plan a revitalised London Cycle Network.  On the site you can upload photos and of parts of the network to build up a picture of what is working or not working and if anything is missing. Below Simon Parker tells us more:

I am pleased to be able to tell you about the launch of a new website, www.bikemapper.org.uk, which I hope you will be interested to visit.
The purpose of this website is to facilitate the study of a proposed design for a revitalised London Cycling Network. Primarily I am seeking to establish which sections of this network are functional and which are not, and from here it should be possible to build up a complete picture of the current cycling environment. It is hoped that, in turn, this would help to inform the debate about where future investments in cycling would be best placed.

The website is aimed mainly at people who have an interest in developing an amenable cycling environment in the capital, though naturally I would be delighted if the general public also felt inclined to contribute. In particular I ask that people upload any photos they may have of the London streetscape.

Bikemapper was made possible because of a number of people, beginning with Ben Irvine from Cycle Lifestyle, who is responsible for the London Cycle Map Campaign,, and who has done more than anyone to give my proposal a more polished edge. My sincere thanks to him, and also to a remarkably talented young man named Fela Maslen, who very patiently and competently has worked with me to develop the website.

I am extremely grateful to Martin Lubikowski from ML Design, Jon Haste from KOLB Illustration, Stuart France from Stuff Animated, Josh Coleman and James Nash from Bike Dock Solutions, and Willy and Guy Pearson from Pearson Cycles. Lastly I would like to thank my family for all their support over the years.

Simon Parker
simon@bikemapper.org.uk

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By viv, 22 December, 2011 8:30 am

‘Seeds of Change’ was the name of the Tasting the Future’s third assembly which as held on 28 November 2011. Tasting the future is a community of practitioners working towards a sustainable food future. The purpose of the assembly was to connect, hear inspiring stories and learn.

Conversations tackled a diverse range of issues facing us in the transition to a sustainable food future. These included: supply chains, climate friendly beef, urban agriculture, business models, sharing, supermarkets, GMOs, biodiversity, hubs & possibilities, sustainable food for everyone, food waste, food mapping, working together for systems change, getting people to act, connection and sustainability as a starting point for innovation.

Chris from GeoVation was one of the 11 speakers during the afternoon session. Chris spoke about GeoVation’s work on Mapping Local Food and how geography can support sustainable food enterprises. Also speaking was Pete Boyce of GeoVation Challenge winner City Farmers who told the assembly about their experiences of local growing and the opportunities for influencing and changing policy.

Niamh Carey from Tasting the Future shared the story behind the idea, the values behind the work and what the team would like to see grow. The final session allowed feedback from everyone in the room on how to take this forward.

To find out more about the assembly and Tasting the Future visit their website

You can also see the report of the Local Food Mapping Workshop we held in July

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By viv, 21 December, 2011 8:30 am

In a week Christmas will be over and the New Year will be nearly upon us. How about starting 2012 with a resolution to buy locally produced food? The benefits are savings on packaging and food miles and you can add some variety by trying new varieties of ‘seasonal’ food.

‘How can Britain feed itself?’ GeoVation Challenge winner, Foodnation have now launched their retro-appeal Foodnation Android app making it easier than ever to locate your local farm and subscribe to a produce box scheme.

Combining the mobile app and website, Foodnation aims to help foodies find their local farm using OS OpenSpace. You can browse your farm’s tasty produce in the online marketplace. Then, using the secure e-commerce section, it’s easy to buy a one-off gourmet box or register for weekly or fortnightly produce boxes.

Foodnation also works well for Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) schemes. With several already on board, it’s easy to find your local CSA and get involved through buying an ongoing subscriptions/share in its produce.

Louise of Foodnation says:  Our farms offer delicious produce, which is not only seasonal but offers more choice in plant and animal varieties.  Foodnation is all about making produce box schemes convenient for the consumer. We hope we’ve made New Year’s resolution No.1 that little bit easier for people to commit to.