{"id":330,"date":"2016-10-13T11:49:12","date_gmt":"2016-10-13T10:49:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/digicivics-at-apl\/?p=330"},"modified":"2016-10-13T18:01:10","modified_gmt":"2016-10-13T17:01:10","slug":"first-log-entry-connecting-cyclists-and-transport-planners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/digicivics-at-apl\/2016\/10\/13\/first-log-entry-connecting-cyclists-and-transport-planners\/","title":{"rendered":"First log entry: Connecting cyclists and transport planners"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Hi, this is our first design log entry for the module by Alistair, Derek, Jake, James and Rachel. Only our second week into the course and we&#8217;ve already met the client in a workshop as well as set goals for the remainder of the project. By doing this, we&#8217;ve also come up with a few questions that we hope will be answered in the coming weeks!<\/p>\n<p>GOALS<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>To increase the amount of cyclists in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. This is because cycling is seen as a renewable, cost-effective transportation method that does not consume energy and promotes a healthy, active lifestyle.<\/li>\n<li>Making cycle routes more known, accessible and easy to navigate. In particular, routes between the city centre and surrounding residential areas as well as potentially linking neighbouring local authorities to the scheme in the future e.g. County Durham and Northumberland.<\/li>\n<li>Producing a compact, interactive, integrated and easy to understand app that is accessible for a variety of users. Anyone should be able to use and operate our app regardless of their age, educational background or geographical area, for example.<\/li>\n<li>Another benefit of this app is that it provides Newcastle City Council with new data about cyclists and their main routes that they have never had before. For instance, where are they coming from? Who are they? What is their cultural and social background? How long will they be traveling? What is their purpose (e.g. are they a part of a club, student, or commuting)?<\/li>\n<li>It will enable city and transport planners to accommodate for high volume areas of cyclists and will enable them to understand and offer more cycle friendly facilities. These include bike lock\/rack locations in Newcastle City Council and suggest where these installations can go. In doing so, it will also address problem areas that cyclists feel need solving.<\/li>\n<li>It will improve the routes to make them more cycle friendly e.g. smoother road surfaces, an increasing knowledge of cycle paths around the city and wider regions, wider and safer cycle pathways.<\/li>\n<li>To consider incentives that increase the amount of people that cycle and for longer. This needs to be done through interactive modes such as easy-to-read maps, user-shared routes and live traffic updates as well as business integration.<\/li>\n<li>Secondary data has already been collected by organisations such as Newcastle City Council as well as key user groups such as Sustrans. Our app will hopefully provide the means to further develop the relationships with planners, developers and cyclists to create a balanced city.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-331 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/digicivics-at-apl\/files\/2016\/10\/cyclists-in-newcastle-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"cyclists in newcastle\" width=\"471\" height=\"314\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/digicivics-at-apl\/files\/2016\/10\/cyclists-in-newcastle-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/digicivics-at-apl\/files\/2016\/10\/cyclists-in-newcastle.jpg 615w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 471px) 100vw, 471px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>QUESTIONS<\/p>\n<p>Who: <em>Cyclists of all ages. From families, school children, students, commuters and the elderly.<\/em><br \/>\n\u2022 Will an app be accessible\/appealing to all age groups?<br \/>\n\u2022 Our main concern is the elderly age bracket. How can we reach out and involve this audience to this social community?<br \/>\n\u2022 Would additional physical resources be more engaging for the elderly or those that do not have access to digital means?<\/p>\n<p>What: <em>An app that creates an online community of cyclists who engage with each other to improve their routes and environment.<\/em><br \/>\n\u2022 How do we successfully promote the app to create this community? (Engage with local social clubs? Online forums? Physical posters\/leaflets? Conduct focus groups?)<br \/>\n\u2022 Will this be easy to maintain and will the idea catch on? (Do we need a points system? Prizes e.g. sustained cycling = rewards at local businesses, discounts with retail brands)<\/p>\n<p>Where: <em>To begin, in the Newcastle City Council region.<\/em><br \/>\n\u2022 Could this develop and expand to engage neighbouring authorities?<br \/>\n\u2022 If the idea gains significant interest, would it be credible to work nationwide? Worldwide? Would it be easier to engage by using countries such as Denmark and Holland as examples where cycling is more integrated into normal life? Can we learn from these places to gain more cycling activity data and improve our town planning capabilities?<br \/>\n\u2022 Locally, how valid will individual data inputs from users be? Can this be monitored?<\/p>\n<p>Why: <em>To p<\/em><em>romote a healthy lifestyle whilst also promoting sustainable transport<\/em>.<br \/>\n\u2022 Does everyone have a bike? Or know how to ride one? Can we promote bike hire companies on the app?<br \/>\n\u2022 Will the app actually produce the desired effect?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hi, this is our first design log entry for the module by Alistair, Derek, Jake, James and Rachel. Only our second week into the course and we&#8217;ve already met the client in a workshop as well as set goals for the remainder of the project. By doing this, we&#8217;ve also come up with a few &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/digicivics-at-apl\/2016\/10\/13\/first-log-entry-connecting-cyclists-and-transport-planners\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">First log entry: Connecting cyclists and transport planners<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6576,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,15,27,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-background-research-and-goal-setting","category-design-stage","category-project-goals","category-team-1"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/digicivics-at-apl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/digicivics-at-apl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/digicivics-at-apl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/digicivics-at-apl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6576"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/digicivics-at-apl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=330"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/digicivics-at-apl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":335,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/digicivics-at-apl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330\/revisions\/335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/digicivics-at-apl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/digicivics-at-apl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/digicivics-at-apl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}