Unlockable

Team Name

Unlockable

Team Members

Project Description

How can we better activate, enhance and unlock public spaces? To answer this question, the users of public spaces are the best people to ask, just what it is they love so much about their public spaces, and what needs improving. Unlockable is a web application that will do just that by unlocking local spaces and community stories through open-source data and Augmented Reality (AR). Unlockable is designed to be used in a transitory manner and by people currently spending time in a public space. Accessing Unlockable will be done by scanning a QR code in public spaces such as parks, art galleries, and libraries. Features that Unlockable holds includes:

• Data visualisation of open-source data and community opinions about the relevant public space. This includes statistics about the amount of green space, car occupancy, keywords that the community has used to describe the space, and similar public spaces.
• An AR feature that allows users to view community stories, as well as, leave their own through audio bites.
• An AR feature that allows users to design the public space by allowing them to drag on public space fixtures (e.g. streetlights, benches) and place them in the AR environment. The selections made in this feature could inform future decisions on how to better improve the public space.
• Community Pulse, a quick two minute survey that incorporates questions related to the NSW Public Spaces Charter and also feeds into the data visualisation feature of Unlockable.
• The Quick Fix function which enables users to provide quick notice of broken things, or issue areas.
• Safety feature that allows users to see the nearest police station. In AR mode, a white line leading to the nearest police station will serve as directions for users.
• Give Back provides those with the time and interest an opportunity to engage with the local community and surrounding organisations. Equipping the user with tangible ways they can take action, understand or donate.
• The Events feature is a calendar of upcoming events in the relevant public space, and in AR mode will direct users to the location of the event in the space as well as a countdown until the event start time.

Data Story

Having looked into the datasets provided, we wanted data and information to be collected by the government and community. Creating use for both the government and the community. At its core, Unlockable facilitates this two-way data flow: it collects data for governments and communities and presents it back to communities in a way that helps inform decisions.

NSW Dept of Planning, Industry, and Environment provided a series of reports and tools used in the process of evaluating public spaces. We used the tools and reports to guide the creation of our solution. The evaluation options for the feedback form were drawn directly from the 10 principles as laid out in the NSW Public Spaces Charter.

Quantitative data was drawn from the challenges’ highlighted datasets from the NSW Dept of Planning, Industry and Environment, Transport NSW, and the Office of Local Government. We also used the Continence Foundation’s National Public toilet map (funded by the Federal Dept of Health) and Ausgrid’s streetlight map. Due to time constraints, data was not blended. For example, Transport NSW’s Car Park API fed directly into Unlockable to create one metric in Quick Stats. Publicly available mapping data from the toilet map and streetlight map will be linked to Unlockable via Google Maps integrations. A key issue encountered was data access privileges: although the urban vegetation and terrestrial biodiversity open data were available on the data portal, there was not enough time for team members to contact and directly request access to JSON files for Unlockable in the time period.

The datasets mentioned above were selected as they held the data points the team deemed most appropriate for enhancing users’ experiences in public spaces: toilet information, streetlight information, natural environment, and transport facilities.