Data-Driven Flyway

Data-Driven Flyway is an interactive LED glass installation with displays that represent the real-time information on Google Flights, including price per airlines, number of visitors, and the flight stability. Not only will it brighten up an uneventful walk down the bridge with an ever-shifting light display, but also help one choose their next travel destination and connect with the others who may be interested in the same travel plan as yours. As an indirect means of communication between the inside and the outside, this installation aims to encourage the employees to consider the local residents’ point of view. 

The process will begin by selecting the top travel destinations googled by the East Liberty residents. Google Flights algorithm will take the existing flight data pertaining to those destinations (departing from Pittsburgh International Airport) and filter out the following dataset: price per airline, the number of people that will be visiting the destination at that time (predicted from the previous years’ dataset), and the chance of delay/cancellation (also predicted using the data from the previous years. Will most likely depend on the weather condition of either cities). They will be then translated into three different sets of uniformly moving curves that will be displayed on the glass LED on either side of the bridge. The length of the curves will be equivalent to the total span of the bridge and also to the time span of the dataset which is a year-long. The curves will be made distinguishable by the colors taken from the flag of the country where the arriving airport is.

The second set of data will consist of people’s movement from the inside. When someone from inside the bridge gets close enough to the display, the part of the curve right in front of the person will start contracting to show them a wider range of flight data from a narrower point of view. 

User experience

Since the display is two dimensional, it will not physically interfere with anyone walking or running down the bridge. The curves that are constantly shifting to reflect the changing information, and moving down the hallway in a constant speed, in the forward direction on your right side. It will be a dynamic source of entertainment to the passerby’s and as a side result, may indirectly encourage the users to walk in a more orderly fashion (walk on your right side!) During break, the display will provide the employees a chance to think about their next travel destinations and possibly start a conversation with those around them. My hope is that once the dream travel destinations of the local residents has grabbed the attention of the employees, they will start wondering about the residents’ opinions on other topics as well. 

Bill

$0.15 color changing LED light: 800 per panel, 128 panels total -> $15,360