[GKD] Congested cities? Computer code comes to the rescue

[Frederick Noronha]

Congested cities? Computer code comes to the rescue...
by Frederick Noronha, Indo-Asian News Service

PANAJI (Goa), July 4 -- Can computer code make your ride less smoother
as you traverse the congested roads of urban India? Goa-based Anupam
Saraph is currently working on a tool he hopes would make traffic
management smoother in 300+ of the country's larger cities (called Class
I cities).

"Nobody really is looking at traffic as a whole. Police look after law
and order. RTOs (regional transport offices) licences people and
vehicles. Municipalities see to constructing and widening of roads. Town
planners decide where to put up 'attractors' of traffic like markets.
But no one is ensuring what the traffic scenario will look like for you
and me," says he.

To overcome this disjointed approach with an IT approach, Saraph (39) is
working on a traffic simulator -- a software program written in the
programming language Python -- that would give urban planners an idea
beforehand of the likely impact of any traffic-management changes they
envisage.

On the computer screen, road maps of specific city roads come-up. Using
this, urban planners can 'simulate' what impact planned changes in
road-design would have for a specific area.

"We've got ready some initial algorithms for stimulating traffic. We
have also created prototypes for demonstration," says this former
molecular biologist. He stresses that complex problems like traffic
management need to be looked at from the 'holistic' perspective.

So far, simulations have been worked on for some road networks in Pune,
for the purpose of demonstrations.  These include exercises on Pune's
Mahatma Gandhi Road, East Street (in the Cantonment area), J.M.Road,
Apte Road, and Ferguesson College Road.

What this software plans to do is to study the impact of any planned
change, before it is actually carried out. "You study the impact of
changes on a computer, rather than on the road itself. So people can
take a rational choice on what would be the best option," says Saraph.

Data needed would be a road-map for each city being studied. Each change
in the road-map would then simulate its impacts. "You would get an idea
of under what conditions it works, or which of the different traffic
improvement options works best," says Saraph.

Dr Saraph notes that fly-overs -- even though these have become an
attractive option for decision-makers in a number of Indian cities of
late -- hardly solve the problem. "Fly-overs simply expand the carrying
capacity of the roads (temporarily), so push the entire city to have
more and more traffic flowing through it," he says.

India's population grew 3.5 times from 1901 to 1991. But, in the same
period, the urban population has grown a phenomenal nine times. In 1951,
for instance, there were only 51 urban agglomeration with a population
of 100,000 or more. Today the figure has crossed 301.

Yet, urban areas remain critical to the economy. Urban areas in India
contribute an estimated 55 per cent of the country GDP (gross domestic
product).

Saraph, who has set up the Institute for Change Research in Panaji's
Alto Porvorim suburb, says his aim is to get his tool across to the
over-300 Class I cities in India.

"This software will be free for use by the commonman. For the
authorities, a slightly different version costing a nominal Rs 1000 to
5000 will be charged, based on the funding we receive," says Saraph.

He says the MOIT (Ministry of Information Technology) has responded
favourably, but the project got bogged down due to lack of recognition
as a scientific and industrial research organisation.

"By traffic simulators, people understand software which gives you an
idea of how the scene looks as you drive past. The goal of this one is
to study, in advance, how to improve traffic flows in any city," says
he. (ENDS)

Contact Dr Anupam Saraph by email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Contact the writer: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
--
   |  Frederick Noronha, Freelance Journalist |
   |  784, Near Lourdes Convent, Saligao 403511 Goa   |
   |  Tel 0091.832.409490/ 409783 Pager 9628.312112   |
   |  E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] or [EMAIL PROTECTED]  |
   /)  URL-http://www.bytesforall.org |
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Re: [GKD] RFI: Insuring ICT installations

[Proenza, Francisco]

Cybercafes seem to have little difficulty getting commercial insurance,
but it is true that most of them operate in urban areas.

There is in principle a simple form of insurance that should work well
for community telecenters located "off the beaten path" . It is called
"self-insurance". When people own the telecenter in a real sense, when
the equipment they work with is familiar to them (not sophisticated or
expensive) and valuable to them, (and it is not brought or managed from
afar), self-insurance should work well.

Governance structure is however very important. Insurance companies do
not really like to work with groups where resposibility for protecting
equipment and facilities is diluted or unclear. And the ability of a
group to organize itself and protect something which they own as a
group, but for which no one can claim ownership as an individual, may be
a challenging task.

Nevertheless, Rodrigo Baggio's telecenters, known as Comite de
Democratizacion de Inform·tica or CDIs (3 to 5 computers, most of them
without Internet connectivity), operate out of Brazilian favellas, where
drugs and crime are rampant, yet theft is repotedly minimal.


Francisco J. Proenza
FAO-Investment Centre
FAO-IADB Cooperative Program
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Visit: www.iadb.org/regions/itdev/telecenters 

 

Geoffrey Williams wrote:

> Regarding the recent burning of Nakaseke telecentre:
> It was proposed at the time, and many people have
> suggested it over time, that telecentres purchase
> insurance. But we are finding it very difficult to
> find affordable insurance for telecentres, especially
> when they are in several different countries, and in
> poor communities.
> 
> Does anybody know of an affordable way for a
> non-profit to insure technology equipment in locations
> that are "off the beaten path"?




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Re: [GKD] Development Gateway

[D. Williams]

To add to my previous reply, (see below) why not mixed technologies?
Radio phone-in programmes are very popular here. Why not carry out the
major global sharing using the sophisticated (and expensive) systems,
and then "download", using information specialists as required, to
answer queries relayed through radio programmes. Frederick Noronha
described for me a system like this in Sri Lanka, and Mr. Gopaul, the
Information Officer at Caribbean Environmental Health Institute (CEHI)
here discussed with me the possibilty of a similar system. In each case
the context of the discussion was how to disseminate the very valuable
information found on the Humanity Library Series CDs, in places where
computer equipment is not generally accessible, printing is very
expensive, and the people who need the information are not necessarily
literate.

A similar suggestion was also made on the list some time ago by someone
writing from the Phillipines. Unfortunately a recent comprehensive
computer crash here has robbed me of my record of that correspondence,
but I think his name is Roberto Verzola.

What is really needed are "human interfaces" - information extension
officers - super reference librarians, who can close the gap between the
ICT provided resource and the person with the problem. Who said
librarians were on the way out?

Best wishes

Deirdre



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[GKD] Invitation to Greenstar Ghana Telecenter Launch

[Paul Swider]

Dear GKD members,

I thought you would be interested in one of Greenstar's latest
activities, which will launch its first African investment August 4,
2001, in the Ashanti village of Patriensah, Ghana. The occasion will
also be a festival of culture and new beginnings so all are invited.

Greenstar  will be partnering
with GhaCLAD (Ghana Computer Literacy and Distance learning)
 and the Asante Akim Multipurpose Community
Telecenter Committee in a commitment of infrastructural investment. For
the community's use in education -- especially in information technology
-- health, food security, business, communications and much more,
Greenstar will install a solar-energy array, computer equipment and
peripherals, and a wireless Internet connection, as well as further
equipment for program use. Other partnering organizations and
individuals are welcome to join this effort.

At the launch festival in this village near Kumasi, Greenstar will begin
the work of creating "digital culture" products by generating digital
formats of the community's art, literature, music and more. Greenstar
will then market these products in the U.S., Europe and elsewhere,
sharing the proceeds with the people of Patriensah.

The partners have been developing a relationship with Greenstar for more
than a year prior to this launch. When Greenstar's founders learned of
Patriensah's vision for an IT-based future for the small village, they
realized this community had the desire and energy to be a great partner.
After extensive research, Greenstar had already decided Ghana was an
excellent place to begin its African expansions.

Greenstar has been making similar investments worldwide for the last
three years and will develop a total of 300 village partnerships
globally over the next five years in about 60 countries.

On behalf of the community, Greenstar would like to invite all
interested people and organizations as both spectators and as potential
partners. Please respond to the below to express your desire to attend. 
Also, please share this notice widely.

Thank you,
Paul
--
Paul Swider
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Greenstar
http://www.greenstar.org/introduction.htm
V 301.776.9979
C 301.793.8329
F 208.248.1869
http://www.e-greenstar.com/pswider.htm




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