Chris Whong's latest project, 'NYC Taxis: A Day in the Life,' visualizes the route of a single taxi over the course of 24 hours.
In order to research the venture, Whong sampled 30 workdays of random drivers from the Taxi and Limousine Commission, which provides over 170 million in total.
Using Google's Directions API, Whong recorded the routes, which were -- quite literally -- all over the map. One example route took a driver from Little Italy to JFK to Newark airport, before looping back to lower Manhattan. In a day's work, the driver shuttled around a total of 125 passengers, earning $720. Of course, the gas and taxes were not included in the final price.
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Trend Themes
1. Taxi Routing Visualization - Disruptive innovation opportunity: Development of interactive apps and tools that can help taxi drivers optimize their routes and increase efficiency.
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3. Personalized Transportation Services - Disruptive innovation opportunity: Introduction of on-demand taxi services that offer personalized routing options based on passenger preferences and traffic conditions.
Industry Implications
1. Transportation - Disruptive innovation opportunity: Implementation of data analytics and visualization tools to optimize taxi routes and improve overall transportation efficiency.
2. Urban Planning - Disruptive innovation opportunity: Integration of taxi route data into urban planning strategies for better traffic management and infrastructure development.
3. Technology - Disruptive innovation opportunity: Development of advanced algorithms and technologies to enhance taxi routing and improve the overall ride-sharing experience.