2012-05-14 – David Levinson, Transportist

At the STREET – Simulating Transportation for Realistic Engineering Education and Training website, we have a new model, ANGIE:

“The Agent-based Network Growth model with Incremental Evolution (ANGIE) models the growth of road networks in several scenarios such as road networks in an artificial grid-like city and the Minneapolis Downtown Skyway network. The philosophy inherent in these models is that accessibility affects road network growth and vice versa. The examples aim to illustrate that different values of accessibility at individual locations can lead to different network topologies.”

The model is what we used on two papers:

Huang, Arthur and David Levinson (2011) The structure and evolution of a skyway network Presented at the 90th Annual Transportation Research Board Conference, January 23-27, 2011. 11-0424. Accepted for publication in European Physics Journal (in press)
Levinson, David and Arthur Huang (2012) A Positive Theory of Network Connectivity. Environment and Planning Part B 39(2), pp. 308 — 325. [published article]

We welcome feedback.

A web-based mapping system for Ancient Rome: ORBIS:

“For the first time, ORBIS allows us to express Roman communication costs in terms of both time and expense. By simulating movement along the principal routes of the Roman road network, the main navigable rivers, and hundreds of sea routes in the Mediterranean, Black Sea and coastal Atlantic, this interactive model reconstructs the duration and financial cost of travel in antiquity.”

Andrew Adamatzky and Andrew Ilachinski have an Op-Ed in the NY Times: The Wisdom of Slime:

” it’s worth remembering that the highway system was created by mere humans, using only human intelligence. To find out if it’s optimally designed, we need to consult a higher authority. Namely, slime mold.”

[I have blogged about slime molds before].
CNU20 is underway, there are lots of posts emanating, see

Erin Chantry @ At the Helm of the Public Realm: Looking Forward: New Urbanism and the New World
Chuck Marohn @ Strong Towns Blog: CNU 20, Day 2
Sam Newberg alias Joe Urban: CNU – Elitist or Grassroots Urbanism?

[The retrospective reflection is so bright, you gotta wear shades]

Nokohaha: Tooling Around Minneapolis ’02

“That’s the busy intersection of Fourth and Nicollet in 1902. Minneapolis City Hall and Hennepin County Courthouse was still under construction and gas buggies had to share the road with bicycles, horses and street cars.”