DESIGN NAME: VeloClass
PRIMARY FUNCTION: Bicycle Traffic Measurement System
INSPIRATION: Municipalities are starting to realize the opportunities in bicycle traffic and bicycle tourism. With new opportunities, come new challenges: as local governments want to invest more into bicycle infrastructure, they struggle to see which directions to develop. Inviting private investment is also a crucial part of such developments. In this case it is important to know which properties are valuable for opening a restaurant or resting place for the cyclists. These challenges touch base in data: to know exactly how many vehicles go in each direction, on each route. Current bicycle counting solutions only count the number of vehicles passing, their data is not precise and the road itself has to be tampered during installation. Direction and types of vehicles remain unknown. VeloClass is a robust solution that precisely measures traffic on bicycle roads: how many and what type of vehicles pass in which direction.
UNIQUE PROPERTIES / PROJECT DESCRIPTION: VeloClass is a vehicle-sensitive and direction-aware measurement device for measuring traffic on bicycle roads. It provides valuable data for municipalities regarding bicycle road traffic. Installation is quick, tampering the bicycle road is not needed. The enclosure and the technology inside is designed to withstand weather conditions in continental Europe and other environmental factors for 10 years without maintenance. Installation is quick, without tampering the road. Kiosks protect the electrical components while communicating the innovative solution.
Together with the product, we design the complete branding and the user interface of the web app.
OPERATION / FLOW / INTERACTION: Installation is quick and easy (compared to competitors). Kiosks are installed next to the bike road. After installation, traffic data can be reviewed using an online cloud-based service. Public data can be checked on VeloClass's website: http://veloclass.hu/en/map
In a map view, users simply click on the station they seek the statistics of, and review historical data in graph-view.
PROJECT DURATION AND LOCATION: The project started in January 2018 in Budapest, and took only 6 months to install the device in the first location. 19 stations are currently installed Hungary-wide.
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PRODUCTION / REALIZATION TECHNOLOGY: The project goal was to create a product that withstands environmental factors and vandalism, and needs minimal maintanance over a 10-year period.
Technology includes ultrasonic beamer and receiver – these are low-cost, long-life, simple electronics with low energy consumption. They are supported by a local batter charged by a solar panel. Data is processed by a long-lasting, lower performance on-board computer, and data is sent to the data centre using 3G communication. With such technologies, installation is easy, remote operation is provided, and low or no maintanance is needed.
Regarding the materials, after considering several options, we used
rapid injection molded parts for covering the technological part. These are flexible and we could provide a unique shape to them. The plastic part is surrounded by a steel tube structure that protects the technological part and makes the structure more visible to the bikers. In the inside, the technological parts are held by a cost-effective sheet metal structure.
SPECIFICATIONS / TECHNICAL PROPERTIES: Main module size: 540 x 300 x 1000 mm
TAGS: biking, bicycle, technology, cloud-based, data, measurement
RESEARCH ABSTRACT: We initiated the project with our own Challenge Mapping Workshop method, where we listed the high level goals of the client and translated them into project goals. Later we referred to the outcome of this workshop as a brief.
During the project we gathered inspiration from the bicycle subculture, using methods like moodboarding, competitor mapping and conducting classic desktop research.
CHALLENGE: The hardest challenge was to create an object that is robust, low-tech and cost-effective, while in the meantime could become an iconic street furniture that is pleasant to look at near bike roads.
ADDED DATE: 2019-03-21 13:40:13
TEAM MEMBERS (3) : Gabor Balint, Andras Kokai and Peter Molnar
IMAGE CREDITS: Renderings by Maform
Photos by Daniel Pek
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