StreetScore scores a street view based on how safe it looks to a human
streetscore.media.mit.edu
StreetScore scores a street view based on how safe it looks to a human
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Re: StreetScore scores a street view based on how safe it looks to a human
#2I remember clicking through those same pictures a few days back and I was under the impression that I was telling the observers what pictures I thought were more beautiful, not safer.
Did they just re-label the same data here or is this another separate program?
Re: StreetScore scores a street view based on how safe it looks to a human
#3I remember clicking through those same pictures a few days back and I was under the impression that I was telling the observers what pictures I thought were more beautiful, not safer. Did they just re-label the same data here or is this another separate program?
Yup. The data is from here http://streetscore.media.mit.edu/data.html and it's used in all PlacePulse surveys. http://pulse.media.mit.edu/ You can choose which question you want from the big menu at the top.
Re: StreetScore scores a street view based on how safe it looks to a human
#4What I would like is something that took street photos and safety info and somehow deduced what visible characteristics correlated with safety.
A while back I was reading a mailing list thread where someone claimed that adding more street lighting didn't improve safety. This struck me as bullshit.
I did some Googling to dig up some fact to show just how right I was. Apparently, not so right at all. There were assorted studies that showed (or suggested, not sure) that adding more lights might actually make a street more dangerous. They can make it easier for a hidden thief to case a place or a target, and some lights create enough glare that it becomes harder to see past a certain distance.
It got me thinking that popular notions of how to judge safety may be very wrong, and that reality may be quite counter-intuitive.
Another example: I grew up in a city, lived in apartment buildings. Anyone who had any money moved out of an apartment and moved into a house. Hence, anyplace that was all houses was a good neighborhood.
Years later I discovered how totally wrong this was and marveled at how such impressions get formed.
Having better evidence about what factors make a location safer, and to what extent one can accurately determine safety by visual inspection, would be very beneficial.
Re: StreetScore scores a street view based on how safe it looks to a human
#5What I would like is something that took street photos and safety info and somehow deduced what visible characteristics correlated with safety. A while back I was reading a mailing list thread where someone claimed that adding more street lighting didn't improve safety. This struck me as bullshit. I did some Googling to dig up some fact to show just how right I was. Apparently, not so right at all. There were assorte…
I'm using a throwaway account so that I don't inadvertently reveal my location.
The area where I live is on the map. I found it very interesting that the safety ratings seemed to be closely correlated with lighting. Street View took pictures of one popular outdoor area near me on a rainy day. Of course, it was deserted due to the weather, so the entire area received safety ratings of around 0. However, on a sunny day, the area is filled with families, and I'm sure that it would have consistently received a 10.
Likewise, my building received low ratings when compared to the surrounding area due to the presence of an alley (which is actually a gated entrance). However, no crimes have taken place there for a very long time. An area just up the street received a rating close to a 10, yet armed carjackings have taken place there before.
At least from my own (rather anecdotal) experience, it's fascinating that the factors which cause people to perceive something as safe or unsafe can actually be far from reality. Anyway, StreetScore is an Awesome piece of research from the ML. I'm interested in seeing the direction that it's headed.
Re: StreetScore scores a street view based on how safe it looks to a human
#6Would be fascinating to see how these data correlate with crime statistics, in particular for violent crimes. Perhaps more fascinating would be if changes in these scores could actually predict changes in crime levels. I'm sure the authors–or their colleagues-are already working on this.
Re: StreetScore scores a street view based on how safe it looks to a human
#7What I would like is something that took street photos and safety info and somehow deduced what visible characteristics correlated with safety. A while back I was reading a mailing list thread where someone claimed that adding more street lighting didn't improve safety. This struck me as bullshit. I did some Googling to dig up some fact to show just how right I was. Apparently, not so right at all. There were assorte…
That's really interesting. I remember when this [1] article came out, showing the difference in streets' income level with the greenery in the street, I found it amazing. Once I started thinking about it, I figured it should have been rather obvious.
So, the way to do would be to first figure if there's more crime in lower-income streets (likely. Right? No data to support me here) Then using the 'foliage detection algorithm', which you can use on LIDAR data available from USGS, which urban neighborhoods have less, and more crime. Do some tests, to see if your hypothesis holds and water at all, and it should be a solid test.
http://mashable.com/2012/07/18/google-maps-income-inequality...
Re: StreetScore scores a street view based on how safe it looks to a human
#8Corrected headline: "How safe would humans say this street looks?"
Not the same question at all.
While the research into computer vision and machine learning is interesting, as a human I'd like to know when my intuition about safety is wrong, not just have a machine that can mimic my intuition.
Re: StreetScore scores a street view based on how safe it looks to a human
#9Interesting program. This info needs to be taken with a grain of salt, or somehow correlate to existing statistical information on certain neighborhoods - I doubt ~400 W 63rd Street in Chicago is a 9.1. The theory of it is great for visualization, and I'd love to see more incorporated data in the future.
Re: StreetScore scores a street view based on how safe it looks to a human
#10They should add an urban planner to the team.