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 uair01
   
Location: Rotterdam.NL
Gender: Male
-=|x|=-
 |  |  | UA = Urban Awareness (streetlights, airplanes)
< on 10/30/2004 8:11 PM >
|  | | | I'm starting to enjoy paying attention to the many unexpected details of the Urban landscape. I've been thinking about it a long time and I've devised the term "Urban Awareness" - don't laugh!
Definition : Detecting, exploring and analyzing Urban phenomena that "common" pedestrians ignore. So the emphasis is on "phenomena" not only on "locations".
I'll give two examples below. But I would be very, very happy with your input.
The streetlights were lit on 30 october 2004 at 18:38:14. Sunset was at 18:13. So is the moment roughly 30 minutes after sunset? Or is the lighting controlled by the light level? This is probable - the lights go on during dark thunderstorms too. But where is this all powerful central light sensor? Could you play games with it?
On 31 october 2004 at between 17:21 and 17:35 two airplanes passed in the same direction within 10 minutes. I haven't found a map of the "corridors" yet. I have only found some local maps - they show a whole new parallel world - http://www.ivao.org/db/ss/airport.asp?Id=EHRD.
Well, then there is a whole set of phenomena that might make your daily walk more interesting:
- How do you explain the distribution and movement of autumn leaves?
- Autumn is a time of nice sunsets. Did you notice the nice reflections on windows? Can you find a double reflection? A triple reflection?
- How do humans distribute themselves over the metro platform while waiting for a train?
Any other ideas are highly appreciated!
"Not to look behind a door is an insult to the door, and the reality it is hiding." |
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Freak
 
Location: Usually Alaska, now MSP.
Gender: Male
Hypocrite
| | | Re: UA = Urban Awareness (streetlights, airplanes)
<Reply # 1 on 10/30/2004 9:20 PM >
| | | | One of my friends commented recently that I spend too much time looking around and getting distracted by ordinary things. I think it might have something to do with your awareness idea, of being interested in the things going on around you, and curious of the environment and the patterns of a city or countryside.
I think I often notice things that others don't, such as odd little quirks of the landscape or buildings that they've never had reason to pay attention to. Part of it probably comes from growing up in "the country", as you'd call it, and learning to notice patterns and behaviors of people and animals. Part of it also comes from an explorer's perspective, of noticing abandoned buildings and potentially interesting places. I know the idea of explorers being more aware of their environment has been brought up before, and it makes a lot of sense.
It's interesting that you mentioned planes, I think I've always lived near a major air corridor. Even in my youth, we lived near an important moutain pass with a lot of small-aircraft traffic, and were also directly under one of the jet landing patterns for the nearby airport. On campus I can look out my window and watch cargo jets from Europe stopping here on the way into the continental US, and if I strain I can see military aircraft at the two bases. Even though 747s are now a common sight for me, I still look up when I hear one coming in to land. I'm also interested in railroads, although we only have a single major one in the state. One year when my window faced the tracks I tried to record the time, direction, and cargo of each train in an effort to learn the schedule, but it was too erratic to make much sense.
If you're interested in radio or emergency services scanners (and if it's legal where you live), they provide a whole other dimension to city watching. You can learn a lot about your city and the various agencies that run it by listening to a scanner. Police, fire departments, railroads, utility crews ("We've got an exploded fire hydrant at..."), airports, animal control, and military radio all help give you an idea of what's going on around you. I hear some of the most bizzare and hilarious training excercises by listening to the military police frequency here.
I think you'll get a lot of good responses on this, it's a very interesting topic.
[last edit 10/30/2004 9:25 PM by Freak - edited 1 times]
Turn off the internet and go play outside.
http://spamusement...hp/comics/view/137 |
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kowalski
| | Re: UA = Urban Awareness (streetlights, airplanes)
<Reply # 2 on 10/30/2004 10:08 PM >
|  | | | Most streetlights have a light sensor on top.
The heat that streetlamps produce is fairly significant, and in western Canada and the U.S. ravens have actually learned to sit on these sensors in the winter, during the day, to activate the lamp in order to get warm.
I live right underneath the dominant inbound aviation corridor in Toronto, such that on most days there is always a plane in the sky if you look for one. These corridors are mapped out against the wind - airplanes take off and land against the wind in order to ensure the maximum amount of air pressure on the wing and prevent stalling. Aircraft taking off into the wind can get airborne with a lower ground speed than those taking off with a tail wind. Aircraft landing into the wind can maintain a lower airspeed on their final approach and can stop faster once on the ground. Our prevailing wind here is generally out of the west, and the planes fly accordingly, but on the unusual day when the wind is coming out of the east all the planes you see in the sky are far higher, because they're heading up rather than coming down.
[last edit 10/30/2004 10:13 PM by kowalski - edited 1 times]
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IIVQ
  
Location: La Sud-Est du cité majeur du North-Holland (Bijlmer), .NL
Gender: Male
Back in Urbex!
| |  |  | | Re: UA = Urban Awareness (streetlights, airplanes)
<Reply # 3 on 10/31/2004 12:00 AM >
| | | | I one day had to walk from the station to the market where my bike was. (poor planning from my side). I allways noticed there are a lot of stickers attached to various lampposts, but on a (without taking photos) 5 minute walk you pass a lot. If you pay attention you will see the pattern. There were a lot of "follow the white rabbit" stickers. At first I tried to follow their trail but I lost track. Now I think that they're randomly spread over the city and not in a specified trail, so I'm a bit disappointed.
In the meanwhile I also noted another frequent type of stickers: a Krusty-the-clown face, marked with other things to make it look like Hannibal Lecter, Ali G, A pimp, a legionaire or else.
Other pictures were small flyers for "PLAK UUCH VAS! expo '04" The expo is allready gone but I'm gonna research into it. All those flyers had a small picture above it, of which one was the same clown. The other figures, I haven't seen without the flyer, but that could also be due to the fact that I didn't make the connection until close to the Market, so maybe I just overlooked them.
Here follows a compilation of them:
One of the stickers I don't want to keep from you - especially not from the "space invaders people" lovers. I'll leave the explanation as an excersize to the reader.
Also, I noticed that all lamp posts in our city have a number. Not an unique number, but unique per street at least, marked by a little yellow or red sticker with black text, about 3 metres heigh, at the streetside of the lamp. In most streets the lamp posts are spaced about 20 metres apart, which means that at every side they're spaced about 40 metres apart: =='==,=='==,=='==,== (I hope you're smart enough to figure out what I mean). Generally they are numbered in rising order from one end of the street, so one side of the street has the even and the other the odd numbers. Also, one side is usually with red stickers and the other with yellow stickers.
The difficulty starts where there is a crossing where a streetlight should be: there is usually an extra streetlight at the opposite side of the street, and the even and odd numbering switches. The weirdness is that the red/yellow division stays at the same side of the street there. Even weirder is that on long streets there is a switch from side to side between the yellow and red numbering, without obvious reason (not obvious to me, anyways).
I just noticed this phenomena and I have to research deeper into this.
Tijmen
P.S. Petr: watch your mailbox in the coming weeks.
Posted by MapMan | 18/9/2005 19:25 | Hedy Lamarr made porn?
Posted by turbozutek | 20/9/2005 2:29 | Dude, educate us! |
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Macsbug
Noble Donor
Location: St. Paul, MN
Gender: Male
Safety First!
| |  | Re: UA = Urban Awareness (streetlights, airplanes)
<Reply # 4 on 10/31/2004 1:21 AM >
| | | | Our streetlights only have one sensor for every couple of blocks, at least thats what it looks like from the maps.
Each bridge has a unique number, I think, at least I noticed that for freeway bridge - a little printed metal strip attached to it.
I'd like to find out more about streetlight timing, and why I wait at a light for minutes when there is no traffic on the cross-street.
The limited googling I did for railroad schedules last year was unsuccessful.
"Believe those who are seeking the truth; doubt those who find it." |
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Kay O. Sweaver
Location: Montreal, Quebec
Gender: Male
Happiness is saying yes more often than no.
| | Re: UA = Urban Awareness (streetlights, airplanes)
<Reply # 5 on 10/31/2004 3:47 AM >
| | | | This runs into the New UE Manifesto blog I posted in usufruct on Infiltration very well. I notice a lot of things as well. In fact I'm hoping to have a weekly blog on small interesting urban awareness (great term!) tidbits on the new UEA site when its fully operational. In fact I was pitching a weekly column in the local street rag that's very similar. Some examples;
On our new LRT (light rail transit) cars there's a small peephole at either side of the car. Looking through the peephole you can see a digital readout that 9 times out of 10 reads "9.5" - planning to call transit or talk to a driver and ask what it is.
On the main road near my house they installed little grey boxes with bright blue LEDs on them on all the traffic lights. No idea what they are. Again something I'll be investigating.
==========================
Amy Smith is an infected slut |
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Plytheman
Location: Lawrence, Massachusetts
Obey The Deer
| | | Re: UA = Urban Awareness (streetlights, airplanes)
<Reply # 6 on 11/1/2004 12:06 AM >
| | | | In an alley in the city there is this series of big blue iron arches with a rail hanging from the top running the distance. They look to be tall enough to run a truck under but I've never seen them in any kind of use besides just being there...
I'm achin, I'm shakin, I'm breakin, Like Humans Do!!
-Byrne |
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ofberenonehand
Location: Minn-e-snow-ta
"Where now is Boromir the Fair? He tarries and I grieve."
| | Re: UA = Urban Awareness (streetlights, airplanes)
<Reply # 7 on 11/1/2004 5:02 AM >
| | | | Posted by Macsbug
I'd like to find out more about streetlight timing, and why I wait at a light for minutes when there is no traffic on the cross-street.
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I believe most of them are on a pre-planned pattern designed to accomodate traffic in the most efficient way. The longer a light is green the more cars get through (less time starting and stopping for the switch). This is why busier intersections have longer waits. I'm not sure if this varies through the day with traffic patterns.
Some lights also have motion sensors which determine if a car is waiting. I believe some streets also have sensors in the pavement for weight, but I'm not sure of this.
Some local examples of sensored lights are St. Anthony and Pascal and Summit and Lexington late night. At Summit and Lexington the light stays permanently green for Lexington and only changes if a car moves into the motion field.
I've heard you can activate the emergency vehicle over-ride for lights (the little white lights on the light pole) by flashing your brights in the right pattern. I have not gotten it to work. Not a good idea to cruise around flashing your brights, but a properly imed strobe could make your commute much faster.
"That's What Government Is For; To Get In A Man's Way" -Mal |
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Macsbug
Noble Donor
Location: St. Paul, MN
Gender: Male
Safety First!
| | | Re: UA = Urban Awareness (streetlights, airplanes)
<Reply # 8 on 11/1/2004 5:19 AM >
| | | | I'm thinking of Snelling and Midway Parkway at 2 in the morning. - No traffic on Snelling, but it's still almost always at least a half minute wait. I just go around down to Como, or hit Snelling earlier where it's not a light. I think they use buried magnetic sensors to pick up cars. The problem with that is (I think I saw a news piece on this or something) that motorcycles often won't set off the sensor, so they have to wait forever, or just run the light.
I've heard the thing about flashing your brights too, I think my friend said he got it to switch by flashing a light he has on his bike at it, I dunno how believable that is though. I was paying attention to the strobe on the U's shuttle bus one night, and it is just a set time - it wouldn't be too hard to time and set up a strobe on the same pattern, although it is not worth my time, or the risk of getting caught, in my mind.
"Believe those who are seeking the truth; doubt those who find it." |
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Jules Verne
Location: Manchester, UK
Gender: Male
| | Re: UA = Urban Awareness (streetlights, airplanes)
<Reply # 9 on 11/1/2004 5:24 AM >
| | | |
Well, then there is a whole set of phenomena that might make your daily walk more interesting:
- How do you explain the distribution and movement of autumn leaves?
- Autumn is a time of nice sunsets. Did you notice the nice reflections on windows? Can you find a double reflection? A triple reflection?
- How do humans distribute themselves over the metro platform while waiting for a train?
Any other ideas are highly appreciated!
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YAAAAWWNNNN!!
Just do some exploring........
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Kay O. Sweaver
Location: Montreal, Quebec
Gender: Male
Happiness is saying yes more often than no.
| | Re: UA = Urban Awareness (streetlights, airplanes)
<Reply # 10 on 11/1/2004 7:23 AM >
| | | | Traffic Priority Sensors (TPS) are IR sensors mounted on top of traffic lights. They don't respond to visible wavelength light but to an IR signal just like your TV remote. When they receive a priority signal from an emergency vehicle they cycle to green in that direction. There's sometimes another signal used by express transit vehicles that either shortens an existing red light or prolongs an existing green light.
That's how it works here in Calgary anyways...
==========================
Amy Smith is an infected slut |
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IIVQ
Location: La Sud-Est du cité majeur du North-Holland (Bijlmer), .NL
Gender: Male
Back in Urbex!
| | | | | Re: UA = Urban Awareness (streetlights, airplanes)
<Reply # 11 on 11/1/2004 7:23 AM >
| | | | Posted by PoopDeck Pat
In an alley in the city there is this series of big blue iron arches with a rail hanging from the top running the distance. They look to be tall enough to run a truck under but I've never seen them in any kind of use besides just being there...
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Can you give us a photo of this? I'd like to see it.
Isn't this meant as a loading device or something? I know that both clothes stores and butcheries hang their product from rails and they roll right from the warehouse into the truck and back.
Posted by berenonehand
I believe most of them are on a pre-planned pattern designed to accomodate traffic in the most efficient way. The longer a light is green the more cars get through (less time starting and stopping for the switch). This is why busier intersections have longer waits. I'm not sure if this varies through the day with traffic patterns.
I've heard you can activate the emergency vehicle over-ride for lights (the little white lights on the light pole) by flashing your brights in the right pattern. I have not gotten it to work. Not a good idea to cruise around flashing your brights, but a properly imed strobe could make your commute much faster.
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In the Netherlands there's many different patterns for traffic lights. Some are entirely pre-planned, some use a combination of planning and demand and some are entirely demand-based. I don't beleive a word about the motorcycles not setting off the light as I can set them of with my bicicle, I have done this many times at night where all demand-based lights show all red, and only green when someone shows up at the light.
The system here for both buses and emergency vehicles is called "VECOMM" (was VETAG), every bus and or emergency vehicle has a transmitter and every demand-based light a reciever. The buses transmit their route code. This was really noticable when I daily took a bus which had to take a detour due to construction: it first set the light to go right to green, and it's own light to red, so it had to wait *longer* than it would have without VECOMM. Some drivers realised this and switched route numbers, and after a while I could sms my boss "I'm gonna be 10 mins late" whenever I hit the bus as I know that driver wouldn't 
In some streets there's something called a "green wave". If you have green at the first traffic light and keep exactly to the speed limit, you'll keep hitting green for every traffic light in that street.
But now to solve the mistery of the streetlights.
Tijmen
P.S. this thread is mentioned in my
An insight on the Meaning and Thoughts of the Average Urban Explorer (AKA John "Rooftop" D. Rain).
[last edit 11/1/2004 8:21 AM by IIVQ - edited 1 times]
Posted by MapMan | 18/9/2005 19:25 | Hedy Lamarr made porn?
Posted by turbozutek | 20/9/2005 2:29 | Dude, educate us! |
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Noah Vale
Location: Portland, Or
It's nobler to never get paid, than to bank on shit and dismay
| | | | Re: UA = Urban Awareness (streetlights, airplanes)
<Reply # 12 on 11/1/2004 7:45 PM >
| | | | Even when I was a little kid, I always wondered how trails/paths get formed in vacant fields/lots. Or perhaps not how, but more along the lines of why? Why would people independently choose to walk along the same path, when they could easily make their own way. Of course, most of the time it is a matter of the quickest route, but the instances where this is not the case are interesting to think about.
"Dallas is a magnificent and wide open city, and I'm deeply envious of any urban explorers who have the good fortune to live there." -Ninj. |
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Plytheman
Location: Lawrence, Massachusetts
Obey The Deer
| | | Re: UA = Urban Awareness (streetlights, airplanes)
<Reply # 13 on 11/1/2004 8:20 PM >
| | | | I'll get pictures next time I'm by there.
I think that the idea of why people have a tendancy to move in certain ways and follow different routes to get places. I think that aspect has alot to do with psychology and would take alot of probing of the mind to answer.
I'm achin, I'm shakin, I'm breakin, Like Humans Do!!
-Byrne |
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Feztaa
Location: Victoria, Canada
Gender: Male
Hide yo kids, hide yo wife
| | Re: UA = Urban Awareness (streetlights, airplanes)
<Reply # 14 on 11/1/2004 10:38 PM >
| | | | Posted by Noah Vale
Of course, most of the time it is a matter of the quickest route, but the instances where this is not the case are interesting to think about.
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It depends on what the trail is running through. If the trail is through deep snow or thick brush, then most people will follow the beaten path simply because it is easier to walk there than to walk somewhere else. If it's an empty, grassy field, then the path will usually just be the most direct route across it and lots of people realize it (going diagonally across a field is faster than going around), so you get paths like that.
But I suppose if I were shown a path in a field with no obstacles, with no obvious points of interest anywhere, (eg, no nearby doors into an important building where you'd expect a lot of traffic), and the path wasn't a straight line, that would be a bit odd (a whole bunch of people meandering around in the same path for no reason).
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SteamPunk
Location: Sailing the seas of sleaze.
| | Re: UA = Urban Awareness (streetlights, airplanes)
<Reply # 15 on 11/1/2004 11:41 PM >
|  | | | yeh, there is a photocell on top of every tenth of so light
I used to be with it, but then they changed what it was. Now what I'm with isn't it, and what's it seems weird and scary to me, and it'll happen to you, too! |
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Asylunt
Location: MPLS
Gender: Male
The Friendly Beer!
| | | | Re: UA = Urban Awareness (streetlights, airplanes)
<Reply # 16 on 11/1/2004 11:53 PM >
| | | | When I was younger in a small town each light had it's own sensor on top, we would commonly use laser pointers to hit the sensor and darken entire neighborhoods at night.
Max Action briefly touches on this new philosophy of UE in his recent mini-update.
http://www.actionsquad.org/updates.html
Asylunt
"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." Mark Twain |
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Fallen_Knight
Location: vancouver BC
| | Re: UA = Urban Awareness (streetlights, airplanes)
<Reply # 17 on 11/2/2004 12:31 AM >
| | | | Here in the suburbs around vancouver, well at least my town, the street lights are in sections controled by 1 photocell at the base of 1 of the lights. If you put some tape over it the lights will stay on untill its removed and bright out
You could also use a flashlight on it to turn them off at night i belive but i have never tried that.
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ofberenonehand
Location: Minn-e-snow-ta
"Where now is Boromir the Fair? He tarries and I grieve."
| | Re: UA = Urban Awareness (streetlights, airplanes)
<Reply # 18 on 11/2/2004 3:08 AM >
| | | | This is good info. I have a pretty severe hatred of street lights. Particularly the ones that don't direct their light entirely downward. I may have to do some "fixing."
"That's What Government Is For; To Get In A Man's Way" -Mal |
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uair01
Location: Rotterdam.NL
Gender: Male
-=|x|=-
| | | Re: UA = Urban Awareness (streetlights, airplanes)
<Reply # 19 on 11/2/2004 1:14 PM >
| | | | I brought the matter up with my colleagues and their theory is that streetlights are controlled by signals transmitted through the power lines - just like the switch from day- to night current. And the lighting should be controlled per section of the city. This would imply a central sensor.
I have found no Dutch facts on Google - strange ... maybe it's a state secret
Now in front of our house we have an "eager beaver" streetlight that refuses to go out at the same time as all the other lights. But it's perfectly identical with all the others along our street. It goes out 20-30 seconds later as you can see for yourself (long live the webcam):
 7:26:07 AM
 7:26:27 AM
 7:26:57 AM
At the moment I'm studying the dynamics of fallen leaves. Hope to post some pictures soon
"Not to look behind a door is an insult to the door, and the reality it is hiding." |
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