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Bicycle Parking Guidance System in Utrecht

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Re: Bicycle Parking Guidance System in Utrecht

#11

Post by errtnsd »

rogeryu wrote: post #9
errtnsd wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can lock the bike almost anywhere anyway, I thought this would help protect it. I don't see any reason to use this service.

You can lock your bike however you want, but any experienced thief can remove those locks within minutes. No reasonable priced combination of locks keeps a thief from taking your bike. Luckily there are so many bikes in Utrecht and Amsterdam and especially around Central Station (10-20k), that chances that they take your bike are really low. Then if you use a good lock, one that takes an extra minute to break, and if…

Interesting. Certain animals use herding, the same strategy, against predators.

Re: Bicycle Parking Guidance System in Utrecht

#12

Post by trenchant »

PieSquared wrote: post #2

It may also interest people here that the guidance system is written in Haskell. I originally saw this on Reddit, where one of the authors provides a bit more information on the technical aspects of the system [0]. [0] http://www.reddit.com/r/haskell/comments/3959r0/haskellbased...

Thanks. I thought I noticed a Haskell logo sticker on that developer's laptop in the photo...

Re: Bicycle Parking Guidance System in Utrecht

#13

Post by rogeryu »

errtnsd wrote: post #11
rogeryu wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can lock your bike however you want, but any experienced thief can remove those locks within minutes. No reasonable priced combination of locks keeps a thief from taking your bike. Luckily there are so many bikes in Utrecht and Amsterdam and especially around Central Station (10-20k), that chances that they take your bike are really low. Then if you use a good lock, one that takes an extra minute to break, and if…

Interesting. Certain animals use herding, the same strategy, against predators.

Yep, that's exactly my strategy!

However, this works opposite by not hiding in the mass. The thief hides in the mass, as bikes themselves don't flee the scene when a thief is in sight. So the trick is to find a good place for my bike. As I have a fragile racing bike (old and cheap but technically in good condition), those massive outdoors parking systems are not good places. People pull and push to get their bikes out, and a racing bike wouldn't survive that for long. So I find places where my bike is safe.

It's always fun to see that I park my bike in an empty spot, and after an hour or so the space if filled with other bikes.

Re: Bicycle Parking Guidance System in Utrecht

#14

Post by furyg3 »

errtnsd wrote: post #6
Cthulhu_ wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, bikes are almost never insured against theft, that's the person's own responsibility (lock and chain), and even then sometimes you're just out of luck. Having your bike stolen is one of the experiences every Dutchman has to go through. That's also why there's a huge secondhand / cheap bike trade, or why you won't see much expensive bikes in the big cities like that. And for the few kilometers (if that) between yo…

I can lock the bike almost anywhere anyway, I thought this would help protect it. I don't see any reason to use this service.

Not at a busy train station in Holland.

200+ bikes are removed per day at Amsterdam's central train station for being parked outside of the designated bicycle parking areas (e.g. sidewalks, bridges, alongside the walls of the station). Even within the designated areas, you usually have to be parked in a bike rack or your lock will be cut and the bike removed.

At busy stations it would be great to know which one of the designated spots you should bike towards. Biking farther away and walking for 3 minutes is much better than guessing incorrectly, searching for a spot for 10 minutes, and still having to walk for three minutes... especially when you need to catch a train!

Re: Bicycle Parking Guidance System in Utrecht

#15

Post by errtnsd »

furyg3 wrote: post #14
errtnsd wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can lock the bike almost anywhere anyway, I thought this would help protect it. I don't see any reason to use this service.

Not at a busy train station in Holland. 200+ bikes are removed per day at Amsterdam's central train station for being parked outside of the designated bicycle parking areas (e.g. sidewalks, bridges, alongside the walls of the station). Even within the designated areas, you usually have to be parked in a bike rack or your lock will be cut and the bike removed. At busy stations it would be great to know which one of th…

Great argument. My country is much more relaxed when it comes to bike parking ( and stealing unfortunately ).

Re: Bicycle Parking Guidance System in Utrecht

#16

Post by fragmede »

errtnsd wrote: post #7
BetaMechazawa wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most of the time cameras are present.

They use cameras for counting free spaces as they mention in the video. Nothing is said about security. Having cameras does not mean you have actual recording and surveillance.

Actually, from the article, the opposite is expressly mentioned: ..."The sensors look like cameras, but the images are not captured or saved, so the cyclist’s privacy is not violated.”

Re: Bicycle Parking Guidance System in Utrecht

#17

Post by Someone »

Kim_Bruning wrote: post #10
errtnsd wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can lock the bike almost anywhere anyway, I thought this would help protect it. I don't see any reason to use this service.

"I can lock the bike almost anywhere anyway" ... Yeah, good luck with that near eg. a dutch train station ;-) http://media.nu.nl/m/m1oxconajm5k_wd1280.jpg/bouw-grootste-f...

Other views of that area:

https://www.google.nl/search?q=800m+bikes+utrecht&ie=utf-8&o...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfQsFgc3Xt0 (other side of the station)

Re: Bicycle Parking Guidance System in Utrecht

#18

Post by vdijkbas »

errtnsd wrote: post #7
BetaMechazawa wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most of the time cameras are present.

They use cameras for counting free spaces as they mention in the video. Nothing is said about security. Having cameras does not mean you have actual recording and surveillance.

(I'm the CTO of LumiGuide who developed this system).

We're currently not using the system for video surveillance. Images from the cameras are only stored in memory for a short period of time while being processed by our CV algorithm.

However, since bicycle theft is a common theme in the Netherlands, there's strong interest from municipalities for using our system for video surveillance. So we're now researching how to extend our system for doing that.

Re: Bicycle Parking Guidance System in Utrecht

#19

Post by vdijkbas »

trenchant wrote: post #12
PieSquared wrote: post #2

It may also interest people here that the guidance system is written in Haskell. I originally saw this on Reddit, where one of the authors provides a bit more information on the technical aspects of the system [0]. [0] http://www.reddit.com/r/haskell/comments/3959r0/haskellbased...

Thanks. I thought I noticed a Haskell logo sticker on that developer's laptop in the photo...

That's me and my laptop :-)

As I mentioned in the reddit comments we're using Haskell for most parts of the system (frontend via GHCJS, web application servers, protocol implementations). For dev-ops we use the Nix ecosystem: NixOS & nixops.

Re: Bicycle Parking Guidance System in Utrecht

#20

Post by errtnsd »

vdijkbas wrote: post #18
errtnsd wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They use cameras for counting free spaces as they mention in the video. Nothing is said about security. Having cameras does not mean you have actual recording and surveillance.

(I'm the CTO of LumiGuide who developed this system). We're currently not using the system for video surveillance. Images from the cameras are only stored in memory for a short period of time while being processed by our CV algorithm. However, since bicycle theft is a common theme in the Netherlands, there's strong interest from municipalities for using our system for video surveillance. So we're now researching how…

Great! I hope you succeed.
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