ForGet Bus-stops here comes EyeStop: an iPhone‐like interactive bus stop for the City of Florence designed by MIT

EyeStops is a concept device for bus stops which will allow the passengers to do a lot more activities than just sitting idle and wait. The SENSEable City Lab of MIT has designed this solar-powered booth that are outfitted with touchscreen displays that will show necessary information like bus schedules or the shortest route for a certain destination. Even more, you will be able to browse the web, check the air quality, see the exact location of your desired bus, interact with a mobile device and use the booth as a community message board to post announcements and ads. On top of that, this booth will surely change the appearance of a traditional bus stop.

At the touch of a finger users can indicate their desired destination; the system will then display the shortest bus route from where they are and the position of all relevant buses real‐time. The EyeStop will glow at different levels of intensity to signal the distance of an approaching bus. Riders and passers‐by can also post ads and community announcements to an electronic bulletin board placed on the bus stop, enhancing its functionality as a public space ‐ a place to gather and exchange community relevant information.

In addition to displaying information, the bus stop also acts as an active environmental sensing node, powering itself through sunlight and collecting real time information about air quality and the urban environment. “EyeStop is an experiment into urban computing: it may be considered an “info‐tape” that snakes through the city, rising up like a pole or cropping out of the sidewalk like a shelter. It senses information about the environment and distributes it in a form accessible to all citizens” – commented project leader Giovanni de Niederhousern.

EyeStop was developed at the SENSEable City Laboratory by Giovanni de Niederhousern, Shaocong Zhou, Assaf Biderman and Carlo Ratti, in collaboration with the Province of Florence and the local public transportation authority ATAF.

Designer : Giovanni de Niederhousern, Shaocong Zhou, Assaf Biderman and Carlo Ratti via Core77

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