倫敦正在追蹤地鐵上的乘客

倫敦正在追蹤地鐵上的乘客

London's subway has become the latest transportation agency to use location data collected from people's smartphones in a bid to improve services.

倫敦地鐵已經(jīng)成為最新一個利用從人們的智能手機收集的位置數(shù)據(jù)來改善服務(wù)的交通機構(gòu)。

Transport for London, which operates the Tube, began collecting data in its stations this week, in order to determine how people are moving through the system and how crowded trains and platforms are. It said passengers will benefit as they will get more alerts about delays and congestion later this year. Extra trains could also be added on routes where the data indicates trains are especially congested.

運營地鐵的倫敦交通局本周開始在其車站收集數(shù)據(jù)，以確定人們在地鐵系統(tǒng)中的出行情況以及列車和站臺的擁擠程度。它說，乘客將從中受益，因為他們將在今年晚些時候收到更多關(guān)于延誤和擁堵的警報。在數(shù)據(jù)顯示列車特別擁擠的線路上也可以增加額外的列車。

It's become increasingly common in recent years for transportation organizations worldwide to use smartphone data to better plan services. They say digital data offers services that greatly surpass previous methods, such as user surveys.

近年來，世界各地的交通組織越來越普遍地使用智能手機數(shù)據(jù)來更好地規(guī)劃服務(wù)。他們說，數(shù)字?jǐn)?shù)據(jù)提供的服務(wù)大大超過了以前的方法，如用戶調(diào)查。

But transportation experts believe London may have the first public transportation system to track and use individual trip data in real time. Given how large a system London operates, other cities may follow suit if the project succeeds. The practice also raises concerns about user privacy, unwanted tracking, potential hacks and the misuse of data.

但交通專家認(rèn)為，倫敦可能擁有首個能夠?qū)崟r跟蹤和使用個人出行數(shù)據(jù)的公共交通系統(tǒng)。考慮到倫敦運營的系統(tǒng)規(guī)模之大，如果該項目成功，其他城市可能會效仿。這種做法還引發(fā)了人們對用戶隱私、不必要的跟蹤、潛在黑客攻擊和數(shù)據(jù)濫用的擔(dān)憂。

In London, there is no process to obtain consent from passengers for the data collection aside from signs posted in stations, explaining that data is being collected to improve services. The signs also say people can opt out by turning off their wifi.

在倫敦，除了在車站張貼的說明數(shù)據(jù)收集是為了改善服務(wù)的標(biāo)志外，沒有獲得乘客同意的程序。這些標(biāo)志還表示，人們可以通過關(guān)閉wifi選擇退出。

Smartphones aren't the only way transportation agencies collect location data. In 2018, the Los Angeles Department of Transportation released a way for cities to track shared e-scooter and e-bike rides, by requiring the vehicles to broadcast their location to the local government.

智能手機并不是運輸機構(gòu)收集位置數(shù)據(jù)的唯一方式。2018年，洛杉磯運輸部發(fā)布了一種方法，讓各城市追蹤共享電動摩托車和電動自行車使用情況，要求這些車輛向當(dāng)?shù)卣计湮恢谩?/p>

London's program relies on wifi in 260 of its stations to understand where people are, such as waiting on the platform or in a ticketing area. It can get the location of any smartphone in the area that has its wifi turned on. Phones do not need to be connected to the subway's wifi network.

倫敦的這一項目依靠260個車站的wifi來了解人們在哪里，比如在站臺或售票等候區(qū)。它可以獲取該地區(qū)任何一部智能手機的位置，只要它的wifi是打開的。手機不需要連接到地鐵的wifi網(wǎng)絡(luò)。

Transport for London says it will be able to monitor in real-time how long it takes people to walk from the ticketing area to the train platform, and estimate how many people are on each train. The program is an expansion of a 2016 pilot that it deemed a success.

倫敦交通局表示，他們將能夠?qū)崟r監(jiān)控人們從售票區(qū)步行到站臺需要多長時間，并估計每輛火車上有多少人。該項目是2016年成功試點項目的擴展項目。

Agencies such as Transport for London use anonymous location data as a security measure, according to the agency. But reidentifying — the practice of linking anonymous data to a person — has also been shown to become easier when combined with other databases, according to experts.

據(jù)該機構(gòu)稱，倫敦交通局等機構(gòu)使用匿名位置數(shù)據(jù)作為安全措施。但據(jù)專家稱，與其他數(shù)據(jù)庫結(jié)合后，重新識別(將匿名數(shù)據(jù)與個人聯(lián)系起來)也變得更容易。

London said it isn't linking the anonymous data to other customer information, and only individual, depersonalized data is available to a controlled group of employees. Only aggregated data may be shared with other Transport for London departments, and external bodies.

倫敦交通局說，它沒有將匿名數(shù)據(jù)與其他客戶信息聯(lián)系起來，只有一組受控制的員工可以獲得非個性化的個人數(shù)據(jù)。只有匯總數(shù)據(jù)才能與倫敦其他交通部門和外部機構(gòu)共享。

Data can be shared with law enforcement if police demonstrate through a formal process that the data release is justified to prevent or detect crime or prosecute an offender, according to Transport for London.

根據(jù)倫敦交通局的說法，如果警方通過正式程序證明數(shù)據(jù)發(fā)布是合理的，可以防止或偵查犯罪或起訴罪犯，數(shù)據(jù)就可以與執(zhí)法部門共享。

Collecting data via wifi isn't the only option for transportation agencies. StreetLight Data, a San Francisco-based company, supplies location data to dozens of cities, states and agencies, illuminating how cars, trucks, pedestrians and bikes move on streets. It uses location data from smartphone apps and connected cars that it buys from data collection companies such as Cuebiq, and says it has data on about a quarter of all trips through a given area.

通過wifi收集數(shù)據(jù)并不是運輸機構(gòu)的唯一選擇?？偛课挥谂f金山的StreetLight數(shù)據(jù)公司向數(shù)十個城市、州和機構(gòu)提供位置數(shù)據(jù)，闡明汽車、卡車、行人和自行車如何在街道上移動。它使用來自智能手機應(yīng)用程序和從Cuebiq等數(shù)據(jù)收集公司購買的聯(lián)網(wǎng)汽車的位置數(shù)據(jù)。該公司表示，它擁有某一特定區(qū)域約四分之一的行程數(shù)據(jù)。

Some areas, such as the transportation authority in Flagstaff, Arizona, say the data from StreetLight has helped them better plan services and save taxpayer dollars.

一些地區(qū)，如亞利桑那州弗拉格斯塔夫市的交通管理局表示，StreetLight數(shù)據(jù)公司幫助他們更好地規(guī)劃服務(wù)，節(jié)省納稅人的錢。